The Reverstone
by Ionuneos
Summary: Following their own pursuits, the group left Twilight and Pinkie behind in Ponyville. They would all return one day, Twilight knew. More than a month has passed though, and a certain pink equine isn't waiting any longer. One night, Pinkie shows up at the library to warn Twilight about her upcoming quest. Not to find her friends. She was going to find the Reverstone. -For NaPoWriMo-
1. And the Trek Through Time

"_It takes a lot of courage to rewind time," Truly stated. He quickly followed it up: "So who did you pay to get it for you?"_

_Daring chuckled, despite herself. Getting to see her old mentor stick a cigar in his mouth once again, while holding tightly to that toothy grin of his, was somehow able to take the attempted sting out of his words. "Hey, let's be real here. It takes just as much stupidity as it does courage."_

"_And no one can beat you at that." The dusty brown stallion pocketed his lighter after igniting the foot of his cigar. He flapped his aging wings, which carried him to the table Daring had set the precious rock on. Finally, he grabbed the mystical item with a hoof, using a touch less care than Daring Do would have preferred. "So what do you call this thing?"_

_Daring gave a quick glance out of the cabin's window. They could be attacked by a swarm of over-sized cats any minute, or someone might be quietly listening. She didn't really like either of those things. That short peek was all the time she was willing to investigate into the matter, however, letting her turn her attention back to Yours Truly. "I don't know. I haven't put much thought into it. And who cares? It's what it does that's important."_

_Truly mostly ignored Daring after the first few words. "The 'reverstone...'" he cackled, choking on some of his own cigar smoke in the process._

_Daring groaned, "Very clever. That must have taken at least five seconds."_

"_Hey, it sounds better than, 'I don't know.'" The reverstone was dropped to the table, again with less concern for its well being than its owner would have liked. "So where did you learn about this thing? And where did it come from? And where the hay is your brother?"_

_The adventurer's mood dampened, and with it, she pushed her pith hat further down to cover her eyes. Truly's smile faded a bit before a word was even spoken. "When I went back in time, I couldn't save both you and my brother. He had agreed beforehand that it was okay to rescue you instead."_

_Truly removed the cigar from his mouth for a moment. "Oh, Daring..."_

"_I wanted him, but I need you," Daring continued bluntly, regaining some of her vigor. She looked her friend straight in the eyes as she went on, "I 'borrowed' the rule book to this thing from Ahuizotl. It's all in some ancient text. I was able to read enough of it to do what I did, but I couldn't figure all of it out. I—" She paused for a moment, then decided to change her word. "—We were hoping you could translate the rest. Maybe there's a way to go back and save both of you. This might not be over yet!"_

_The rolled up tobacco went back into Truly's mouth before he leaned over the table. Daring had slid a book over to him. Thousands of years old, he could tell, just by its appearance. It was open to a specific page, leading Truly_

There were three distinct knocks on the door. It was okay. She had come to expect distractions by this point. Still, they could have at least been kind enough to wait for her to finish the paragraph. "Come in," she said. Her own voice startled her. It had been awhile since it had seen much use, making it sound scratchier than it usually does.

The door attached to the explosion of pink that she called her room was gingerly shoved open. Her best friend, Twilight Sparkle, was found on the other side with a strange expression on her face. She almost looked surprised. "Pinkie? What are you doing?"

The sight might have been a little strange, the party pony granted her friend. Even though it was mid-afternoon, Pinkie hadn't bothered opening the curtains to her room yet, making the space darker than it needed to be. Besides that, it wasn't very easy to find Pinkie laying belly-down on her bed with nothing but a laptop computer in front of her. Her mane may or may not have been ignored lately, too. She didn't actually dare find a mirror to see what she looked like. It couldn't have been terrible, though, and probably not worth the look Twilight was giving her. "Hey, Twilight. I'm not doing much. Just writing a little."

That look instantly shifted from confusion to skepticism. "Writing?" the purple mare asked doubtfully.

"Uh-huh!" Pinkie replied. She was feeling the most cheerful she had felt in awhile, now that Twilight was here. "_Daring Do and the Trek Through Time!_ Or maybe _Daring Do and the Unnamed Rock._ I haven't decided yet."

Twilight stepped into the room. The critical look faded quickly. She must have liked one of those titles. "So you read those _Daring Do_ books, huh?"

For some reason, that question triggered a small wave of depression inside of Pinkie. She decided not to chance her voice, instead answering with a nod.

Pinkie's gaze shifted from her guest to the back-lit computer screen. She was re-reading the last line she had written when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Twilight had sat down on the floor. Twilight's mouth opened, but it took an extra second or two for any words to come out. "The Cakes told me that you haven't left your room that much lately."

The pony was normally able to mention the specific second it was when she did the most mundane of things. This time, however, even she needed to strain her brain a bit to realize that her friend was right. Apart from a few snacks and a handful of potty breaks, it had been a couple-few days since Ponyville had seen any sign of her. She couldn't help that. "I guess so."

"Do you... Do you want to talk about anything?"

Pinkie gave a little gasp. That was nice of her to ask! But why did she sound so nervous saying it? "Do you want to read my story?! It's got action and adventure and a jungle and—"

She halted herself when she heard Twilight laughing. The unicorn seemed to be trying to repress it, but failing to a significant degree. A warm smile finally took its place. "I don't know anyone that has half the imagination you do, Pinkie. I'm sure your story is amazing, and I'd love to read it over sometime. But what I meant was, do you want to talk about our friends?"

Oh. That.

Pinkie's silence seemed to somehow answer everything. Her excitement dwindled, and her eyes again conveniently found their way to her laptop. She wasn't reading anything this time, though. "Your staying in this room is a reflex, Pinkie," Twilight explained. The recipient wasn't sure if she felt like hearing a lecture right now or not, but didn't do much to stop it. "It's only natural to have a reaction like this for you. Our friends aren't around here anymore. This is really hard on me, but... I can't imagine what it's like for you."

Once again, her eyes did a lot of talking for her. She stared at the floor, contemplating what to do with the information she was just force fed. "Twilight?" she asked weakly, still thinking on her friend's words.

Twilight released a sigh. She was probably relieved Pinkie wasn't going to Pinkie her way out of this. "Yes?"

"What do you think happened to Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash was the worst. Fluttershy and Rarity, they went away on account of their passions. Applejack too, even if she left without much more than five words. It was eleven, actually. "I gotta go, sugar cube," she had said, "Apple related. I'll be back soon." Sure, it might have been a month (maybe two) by now since they had heard from any of them. That was all right, though. At least they were probably somewhere safe doing what they loved.

But Rainbow Dash. Word had spread she hadn't shown up at work for a few days. It'd been even longer than that since Pinkie Pie had seen her around. Now her picture was on milk cartons all across Ponyville.

"I... I don't know."

Twilight's answer snapped Pinkie out of her own thoughts. She spotted Twilight watching the _Daring Do_ book that laid on the floor near the other side of her bed. Maybe Rainbow's disappearance had a _little_ something to do with Pinkie being interested in that series. It had still been on her to-read list way before that, though. No doubt it was a small list, but she did have it.

"But I can say one thing for certain."

That caught Pinkie's attention. Now Twilight was smiling at her again. It was hard for her to feel too bad when a friend smiled at her.

"We still have each other, Pinkie, and I'm not going anywhere for a long while." Twilight's grin grew bigger, as if she was reassuring herself as much as her friend. "Why don't we have a party while we wait for everyone to come back? We could invite our other friends, like Cheerilee, or the Crusaders!"

"Maybe..." Pinkie agreed, a few ideas already popping into her mind. She set them to the side of her brain for the time being and showed off a smile of her own. "Thanks for being my friend, Twilight."

"We can help each other to feel better. Spike is in charge of the library for a few hours. Wanna go get something to eat?"

The party pony pondered that for a minute. Eventually, a better thought formed in her mind. "Well, I'd really feel better if you read my storrryyy!"

Twilight Sparkle laughed, this time not attempting to restrain it. "All right, Pinkie Pie," she stated, trotting towards the laptop and its owner, "Let's see what you wrote." By the time she reached her, the author had scrolled up the page to a more interesting part of her tale.

_Daring Do placed her hoof against the outside temple wall. Something leathery rubbed against the bottom of her foot, which made her silently pray it wasn't poison ivy. She didn't want the answer though, instead choosing to peek into the dark abyss that was her next adventure. She glanced over to her brother on the opposite side of the cavernous entrance. Even from the respectable distance, she could see he was shaking. "Darrin, what's the matter?"_

"_I don't explore temples," the grounded pegasus retorted, his voice cracking, "I research them! In a safe library!"_

_Daring wanted to understand the scope of the mission from Darrin's point of view; he never witnessed the daily rush of adrenaline like she did, or see so much violence that wasn't beyond a movie screen. Unfortunately for the colt, it was much easier to just get mad at him, and his sister hastily settled for that. "Look, Darrin, we both need that rock. I just lost a really good friend who was working his flank off to make sure we made it to this point. This whole situation blows, but if we can find this thing and get out of here, it'll almost have been worth it. If you stay out here, Ahuizotl's army will track you down before you even find a bush to hide in. We're going in this temple. Now." Without giving him even a chance to respond, Daring stormed into the abandoned shrine. She didn't look back, but her big sister instincts forced her to keep an ear out, just to make sure he was following._

_Darrin stumbled over his words for a minute before giving a reluctant chase after her. "W-well, okay then."_

"_Darrin, DUCK!"_

_The dark-yellow stallion froze on the spot before quickly falling on his tummy. He covered his eyes with his hooves and couldn't stop shivering. The end was here, he knew it, a trap triggering a barrage of arrows, or a giant boulder sent to crush him, or—_

_Daring turned around and backtracked two hoofsteps. She blinked her eyes in confusion when she saw her brother's pathetic state. "Darrin? What are you doing?"_

_Working up more nerve than he knew he had, Darrin nervously lifted a single hoof away. He glanced up, unwittingly coming face-to-face with a low hanging ceiling. He wasn't about to be killed... he was about to bump his head. Daring's look of confusion didn't waver. Clearing his throat while trying to come up with a solid-sounding reason for doing that, he got back to his hooves. Both of them pressed on, Darrin making sure to keep his neck low from time to time._

Twilight took a moment to herself. It was just like someone told her magic didn't exist; she couldn't believe what was right in front of her. "Pinkie... You _wrote_ this?"

"Do ya like it?" the messy-maned Pinkie wondered with a hopeful grin.

The lavender mare took a seat right on the floor. Her attention didn't waver from the screen. "I have to admit, I was expecting a lot more... balloons. But your character development is great, I love the humor, and can't wait to read some of your action scenarios."

Pinkie was only half able to keep up with that review. It was just like Twilight to offer good critique, though, and that sounded mostly positive! "Thanks, Twilight!"

She began reading a few more lines, noticing Pinkie was now reading along with her. Before either of them got far, Twilight had one more thought cross her mind. "You should probably stick with _Trek Through Time_, though."

Neither of them remembered they were just about to go eat lunch.

-**TRS**-

It had been more than forty-eight hours since Twilight visited Sugarcube Corner. In a rare moment of free time, she allowed her mind to drift back to the conversation she had had with Pinkie, but refused to dwell on it too much. Between managing the library, planning time to plan other things, and actually doing those other things, she was kept busy enough. It was a pretty late eight 'o clock in the evening, making Twilight yawn as she used her magic to lock the door to her tree home. The admittedly cheap metal glowed a mystic pink as it sealed the door shut for the night.

Satisfied, the unicorn turned around to see how her partner was doing. The bite-sized dragon was halfway up a ladder with an ever decreasing stack of books. One by one, he slipped a misplaced book back in the shelves. Categorized alphabetically, by type, and when applicable, by color—he was such a great assistant. "Good job, Spike! This might be a record clean-up time after a visit from Derpy Hooves! You finish doing that, and I'll go see what we have for dinner, okay?"

"Sounds good," was his jubilant reply. He wavered slightly on the ladder, but quickly regained his balance, saving the pile of books in his claw in the process. He'd done this for so long now, it was pretty much second nature. "Hey, do we have any more amethyst?"

"Sorry, Spike, I don't think so. We can close a little early tomorrow and go hunting for some, if you'd like."

She didn't get an immediate response to that, so she assumed the topic was dropped. As she started to make her way to the kitchen in the side room, however, she heard a quiet noise. Then she realized it was Spike, mumbling.

"Rarity always found the best gems..."

Twilight stopped in her tracks. She didn't take much offense by the statement, as it wasn't a secret that her close unicorn friend was a much more gifted treasure hunter than she was. Spike had probably taken Rarity's sudden leave the hardest. Besides Spike not finding a romantic interest in any other creature, the lady was able to provide him with weeks' worth of meals solely off of collected gems that she had no use for.

The unicorn that Spike was stuck with had doubts that she was supposed to hear what he said. With less pep in her trot, she continued toward the kitchen area.

"_It's not like any of our friends to never contact us..._" Twilight thought to herself as she pulled a couple bowls from a cupboard with an absent mind. It didn't even strike her to use magic until she had already brought them over to the table with her mouth. The kitchen was the smallest room in the tree; she reaffirmed that by looking around it and sighing. "_It's not like any of them, but I'm especially worried about Applejack and Rarity. They left family as well as friends behind in Ponyville. What could they be doing that they couldn't get a quick letter off?_"

She grabbed some forks out of a nearby drawer, this time remembering the horn that was attached to her forehead. They hovered obediently in the air for a minute while Twilight's attention moved instead to a calendar tacked to the wall. It had a picture of two bunnies on it. Naturally, it had been a present from Fluttershy. "_It's officially been at least a month since everyone took off... closer to two for some._"

The silverware finally made it to the quaint, round table in the center of the room. She moved to the fridge next. "_'Since everyone took off,'_" she repeated in her mind. That could potentially be incorrect. Her heart ached on a beat when she thought of Rainbow Dash. It hurt even more when she remembered the unknowing look on Pinkie Pie's face when she had inquired about her. Twilight prayed Rainbow really had followed her stubbornness and simply "took off" somewhere. Any other alternative was too horrific to think about.

Spike stepped into the kitchen warily, concerned about the amount of silence that was in it. He found Twilight idling in front of the fridge, her neck bowed apparently in thought. His eyes darted over to the wooden cupboard on the opposite side of the room—the one that happened to contain the jewels he loved so much—and silently wondered why the first of those things wasn't closer to the second. "Uh, Twilight?"

The train of thought crashed. She jerked her head around, causing her mane to whip her on the side of her face. It'd been awhile since she'd had it trimmed, with Rarity gone and all. "Oh, Spike. Sorry." She resumed gathering dinner at a much faster pace. She got a hold of some fresh hay that was in the fridge using her magic, then multiplied it to grab the peanut butter that was on the counter. "I was just thinking of... where we could look tomorrow, that's all."

"Uh-huh..."

It was a lie, obviously. What she wasn't sure of was if it worked, or if the dragon was more interested in a meal than her fibs at the moment. Regardless of which one it was, she set the items she had gathered on the table before moving over to the cupboard Spike had been eyeing. The door swung open, once more with magic, revealing basketfuls of various gems. Red, and orange, and... yellow... and green. Twilight couldn't stop a sigh. She forget that she had organized the gems by the colors of the rainbow.

She really needed to be less organized sometimes.

Still clinging tightly to her practiced magical powers, she lifted up a few gems of each color. A gem salad, it could be called. She tossed all of them in the second bowl on the table, which Spike quickly scampered up to. Her eyes stayed on the table for an extra moment. There were no chairs to accommodate Spike... Huh. "_Buy a chair for Spike,_" she added to her mental checklist of things to do.

The distraction didn't last long. Now she couldn't even fix a meal without longing for her friends? It was a pretty fair point, she eventually decided. She had done pretty much everything imaginable with her friends, thus it made sense so many things reminded her of them. She just hated that there was so little she could do about it.

Twilight's back slouched as she moved over to her side of the table. Some peanut butter and grass should help her feel better, after all. Feeling like a rogue, she dipped the grass right into the jar of peanut butter. That's right. No knife to slather the condiment on this time. She was going all-out Ponyville style.

Just as she opened her mouth up to take her first bite, a series of pounds connected on the front door. Twilight groaned loudly.

The situation made Spike laugh. As his friend angrily set her meal down on the table and stomped away, the baby dragon chucked a chipped quartz onto his awaiting tongue.

The annoyed mare was halfway to the door when a second round of rapping started. "I'm coming!" she roared.

She _could_ yell at whoever was on the other side of the door for disturbing her during a meal. She decided against doing it, though; that would only take up more time that she could use to get back to her food. Simply greet the pony, answer their inquiry, and shut the door in their muzzle.

The lock was shifted, the knob twisted, and the door pulled open. As soon as it was open wide enough to see outside, shock replaced frustration. A pink mare stood waiting for her. She didn't look like she had been crying, necessarily, but to see her so sad was nearly as bad. Her mane, which so often resembled bouncy cotton candy (delicious, edible cotton candy), was frazzled and without much life. It didn't look like she had touched it since Twilight had seen her two days ago. Had she even slept since then?

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?!" the violet pony shouted, this time out of concern instead of anger.

_Sniffle. Sniffle, sniffle._ "Twilight... I need to leave."


	2. Visiting After Hours

The words didn't even make much sense, even though it seemed like she kept hearing them from everywhere these days. Slowly, however, they began to make too much sense. On each of Pinkie's sides was a saddlebag, both of them crammed full of who knows what. Twilight's body had a sudden reaction to the situation: fight-or-flight. If she didn't react now, she was going to lose contact with the last true friend she had in this town.

"Pinkie... _What?_ What do you mean you need to leave? What happened?"

"Is Spike asleep yet?" Her voice was small; her confidence was seemingly smaller.

Twilight accepted that as a fair point. Until she could understand it herself, there was nothing to be gained by getting Spike worked up over this. She stepped past Pinkie Pie, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible. "Pinkie, you're scaring me. Why do you need to leave? Are the Cakes okay?"

"They're fine. It's nothing like that." Pinkie suddenly became entranced by the ground, for her eyes couldn't lift any higher than it. She dug casually at the grass, seemingly only to buy time. She was chewing on her lip, too. "I'm leaving to go on a mission."

Twilight's tension lowered by a notch. The last time Pinkie Pie used the word "mission," it was to find a bag of color markers she had misplaced. The saddlebags meant nothing at that point. During the marker crusade, she had somehow donned an entire suit of armor. "A mission for what?" the lavender pony ventured to ask.

They were both illuminated by nothing but a lantern Twilight kept outside the library at night, and a half moon. The rest of Ponyville was lost to the almost complete blackness of night. It made the scene eerie for Twilight. When Pinkie continued to refuse eye contact, she only began feeling worse.

"I... I can't tell you. You would just laugh at me."

Twilight let herself take some time to think about that. It's true, Pinkie's imagination could sometimes get the better of her. Still... "We've had a lot of laughs together, but never once have I laughed at you. I'm not going to start now."

"Do you Pinkie Promise?"

It was a little startling just how prepared she was to ask that. She does rely on those to get around, though. "Cupcake in my eye," Twilight said, shortening the ritual while still making the motion of putting a hoof on her eyelid.

The bubblegum-tinted equine finally relaxed a bit. That was good. Super-Serious-Pinkie was frightening. "The thing is, Twilight..." She looked up to meet her friend's gaze. Twilight could have sworn there was a twinkle of water in the corner of Pinkie's eyes, but didn't have any evidence of it. "I really, really miss everyone."

Okay. Pinkie was lonely. She could work with this. A slumber party! And she was more than invited to go gem-hunting with them tomorrow. It was no reason to leave Ponyville (and Twilight) for months at a time. Now she just needed to be convinced of that. Taking a deep breath for confidence, Twilight spoke, "I know, Pinkie. I've found myself thinking about them all night, too. The thing is, we can't even be sure of where they are. Rarity might still be in Canterlot, but it's pretty plausible that her business has gotten so big that she's needed more stores around Equestria. And Fluttershy did say she was going to Zecora's homeland, but she could be anywhere by now. And the other two we're still not really... sure of."

"I know." Pinkie sighed. She seemed to be expecting the worst to come from the next part. "The thing is, I'm not really going to look for them. I'm going to look for the reverstone."

The mini librarian inside of Twilight's head searched through any available mental databanks for her. The reverstone. What in the world was that? It sounded familiar, but why? She needed a nudge in the right direction. "Come again?"

"The reverstone," she answered quietly. It looked like she was still worried about Twilight's reaction, which was morphing over to incredulous. "It can reverse time, and..."

_Click._ The fog that was hiding the answer cleared up all at once. That _Daring _Do story. Twilight's jaw made a good attempt at dropping to the floor. "...Pinkie..." she whispered, her mind still gathering broken thoughts. Before continuing, she cleared her throat, bringing the volume of her voice back to normal. "Pinkie, there's no easy way to tell you this. _It doesn't exist! You're_ the one that made it up!"

The party pony's stance changed. She moved from scared and humbled to defensive. "Hey, I'm not a _dodo_, Twilight! Of course it's real!"

"It's _not_ real. There's no logical way it _could_ be real. You made it up for your story!"

"Who says I made it up?" Pinkie bit back. "Maybe I read about it somewhere!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. It's true, she was speaking to a friend that was very vulnerable right now. The problem was that friend was spewing unscientific facts, and there was never an excuse for that. "Did you?"

Any bravado that the anger surge had given her fizzled out. Again, Pinkie looked to the ground for advice. It didn't offer much. There was a blinking lightening bug on that blade of grass, though. "I... might have, when I was little. I don't remember that well..."

Sometimes the unicorn felt bad for always winning verbal debates between her friends. She allowed herself a private frown before setting a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. It was supposed to provide comfort, even though she wasn't sure if it did. "Listen, Pinkie. I know a lot about magic and the history of Equestria, and time-traveling artifacts don't come up in my books very often. If it'll make you feel better, we can spend some time tonight looking through the library. We'll research this 'reverstone' and see what comes up, but I don't think—"

"I can't waste that much time," Pinkie stated, shaking her head. She noticed the hoof leave her shoulder, but tried her best to soldier on. "You don't understand, Twilight. The reverstone has to be real. I _need_ to go back in time."

"Pinkie—"

"It's not the same!" was barked, cutting Twilight's response off. "Even before everyone just vanished... it's not the same. I could never find a time to host a party where all of our friends could be there. Anytime AJ let herself take time off, Rarity was gone on a fashion trip. Or when Rainbow Dash could make it, Fluttershy was too busy. That didn't use to happen, Twilight. I want to go back to the first day we all met you and stay there forever and ever."

"Pinkie—" she said again, this time with more desperation. But again, she got interrupted.

"You can't talk me out of this, Twilight Sparkle. I'll write to you soon."

She turned around and began walking away.

Twilight couldn't believe what just happened. _Had_ that just happened? Pinkie was always on the sensitive side of things. It goes without saying that almost all of her friends suddenly vanishing—no, taking off, not vanishing—would have an adverse effect on her. Still, to go to the lengths of convincing herself something she created was actually real was unprecedented, even by Pinkie Pie standards. No. It wouldn't end like this.

"Pinkie! Stop right now!"

Had she thought any of this through? How many bits did she have on her? _Please_ say there was a first aid kit in one of those bags. Did she know how to apply any of it even if there was?

"I demand you turn—Pinkie!"

Where in the world was she going? Twilight's guess: she had made up the location of this 'reverstone' while she was at it. She could be headed anywhere, and the statistical chances that it was somewhere safe were astronomically low. Pinkie Pie wasn't obeying Twilight's clear orders, and the harsh truth was that the lantern light didn't stretch on forever. Her last friend from Ponyville was about to take off, no different than the others had.

No, she wasn't. If Pinkie Pie wouldn't listen to reason, maybe she would listen to crazy.

"Pinkie Pie! I'm coming with you!"

That didn't have any trouble causing its intended effect. Pinkie stopped where she was. Four or five seconds after that, Twilight got to see her face as she whipped her neck around. No tears, or anything close to it. A Pinkie smile was attached to the mare's face. "You _are?!_"

Twilight trod cautiously into that question. If only she knew where her own declaration had come from, she might be able to answer the question posed to her a little easier. She sluggishly trotted forward in order to close the gap that had been created between the two ponies, all the while trying to figure out why she just said what she did. "Well, I..." she started, hoping the rest would spill out itself. It didn't, though, leaving her the task of doing it. "If you won't stop and think about this for a minute, I'll just need to go along with you then."

About half of Pinkie's smile faded away. Maybe Twilight could have worded that better, but if any offense had been taken, Pinkie didn't seem to let it bother her much. "Thanks, Twilight."

"I'll need to pack some things," said the mare, "and let Spike know what's going on. Don't go anywhere, all right?"

Pinkie plopped her backside onto the grass, her grin growing larger again. "I won't!"

Trusting her, at least enough for that, Twilight turned around and reentered the hollow tree. Once inside and with a shut door, she closed her eyes and sighed. A passing thought made her wonder if she could outlast Pinkie by just staying in here. That would never work outside of cheesy romance novels, though.

She opened her eyes and found something bittersweet waiting for her. Across the room, halfway up the first stair leading to her bedroom, Spike's unconscious body laid almost motionless. If it wasn't for his snoring, she might have gotten worried. Instead, the scene incited a giggle. As softly as she could, she lifted his scaly body with magic and hopped up the stairs with him in tow. "_It's better this way,_" she told herself, "_The poor dragon would never get to sleep tonight if he knew he had to worry about me and Pinkie._"

Gently, she levitated his body down to the pile of hay he slept on every night. Not even a sign of waking up. She chuckled at it, even if it was short-lived.

She looked around her room. Everything was in place. Her bed, her dresser, her organized (to her) pile of books. What destroyed her mood was when she locked eyes with her own pair of saddlebags, hanging there in the corner like they always did. She was hoping against hope that the next time she needed to use them would be to a sunny vacation somewhere. She heaved one more sigh for the night.

-**TSR**-

"_Dear Spike,_" she reread for the third time.

Some time had passed. Twilight didn't dare to find out how much exactly. The sandy brown saddlebags she had, which had been lined with small sapphires by her fashion friend, rested heavily on top of her back. Tacked to the door in front of her was the note she had just written her assistant.

"_I'm going out on some crazy adventure with Pinkie Pie. I promise I'll write as soon as I can explaining more. I'll try to send those amethyst you asked for, too. You're in charge of the library, and try not to bother the princess much while I'm gone, okay? Love you, Twilight"_

She didn't like being that vague, but "adventure" and "Pinkie Pie" should answer enough questions for the time being. She didn't want to keep her fellow adventurer much longer. With one last glance at the bottom floor of her library, Twilight pulled the door open just enough to slip by it, and left the reading center behind for the strangest quest she had had yet.

Pinkie Pie had somewhat broken her word. Rather than staying in her spot, she had laid herself down on the grass. A scroll of parchment was laid out in front of her. Closer inspection of the piece revealed it to be a map of Equestria. Twilight entertained the thought that maybe her friend really had put more than five minutes' worth of thought into this. "I'll regret asking this, but where are we off to?"

Pinkie scratched at her chin, before slamming her hoof into the sheet of paper. "We'll start by heading east."

Twilight barely avoided screaming. Instead, she got by with just a groan. "Pinkie, that's west."

"Okay then, we'll start by heading west!" Satisfied that was figured out so easily, Pinkie rolled the map up, grabbed it with her mouth, and shoved it into one of her bags. She immediately turned in a direction (the right one this time) and began trotting away. Twilight, though reluctant, still followed.

West. West wasn't a terrible place to go. It was nothing but plains and light forests for awhile; the desert wasn't going to show up until later on. Maybe she could convince Pinkie Pie to turn back around by then. For now, the main question lingered on her mind. "So, do you know where the reverstone is?"

No more eye-rolling every time she said that word. The normally eccentric pony was still looking downtrodden, and for her friend's sake, Twilight could pretend that she believed in the thing for a little bit.

They exited out from the range of the lantern. The moon had a hard time lighting much, being so high up in the sky like that. Twilight couldn't make out much more than Pinkie's outline as she responded, "I'm not sure. But I'll look all over Equestria if I need to."

They were coming up to the stony path that led out of town. The transition from grass to rock felt strange underneath their hooves, but at least the way forward was obvious now.

"This is really important to you, isn't it?"

There was a delay between the question and response. It was hard to remember a time Pinkie had been serious about something for twenty consecutive minutes and counting. "I've been thinking about this for days, Twilight. It's just something I need to do."

There was a time and a place for blunt honesty. There was a voice inside of her—her urge to blurt her opinion out—screaming. "_You're an idiot!_" it wanted to yell at Pinkie Pie, "_You're chasing after a rock that doesn't exist so you can selfishly abuse time travel!_"

There was a time and a place for blunt honesty. This wasn't it. "I understand, Pinkie," Twilight responded softly.

It wasn't a long trip to leave Ponyville. From there, they traveled through the area locally known as the Great Plains. Unshaved weeds were everywhere, as were unthreatening fauna. Neither were able to deter the traveling ponies for more than a minute. Before long, they were already in the next area: the Mid-Great Plains. They had only been on their journey for barely a couple hours, but they couldn't escape the fact that they had gotten off to a rather late start. The moon they were relying on was getting ever closer to its apex, and outside of special study sessions, Twilight never allowed herself to stay up that late. Conversation had turned quiet soon after leaving Ponyville, but finally, the silence was broken.

"Pinkie, maybe we should rest here for the night. We'll be better off when we aren't so tired."

Unbeknownst to Twilight, she had caught the earth pony mid-yawn. "You're right," she agreed heartily.

A look around their surroundings kept them unimpressed. The Mid-Great Plains were known as such because the farther west one traveled, the warmer the temperature got, thus stopping the grass from growing as tall as it does in the Great Plains. With no trees or ponds to be found, all the scenery they were left with was a half-dead meadow. It would at least, however, provide them with a respectable spot to get some rest.

"Hey, Twilight? Could you shine a little light over here?"

That was a simple request to fulfill. Upon giving herself a seat on top of an especially withered patch of grass, the unicorn tapped into her magical strengths and cast a beginner's spell. A tent of welcoming light shrouded the pair of ponies, originating from the tip of Twilight's horn.

The brightness fended off the dark, revealing Pinkie Pie to be in a familiar position. She was once again belly flopped on the ground, her eyes scanning her trusty map. This was the first time Twilight paid much attention to the piece of paper. It looked old—thirty years or older, probably. She briefly wondered where Pinkie had stumbled across something like that, but a different thought replaced that one in her mind.

"Is it okay if I ask you something? It's a little silly, but..."

"Fire away!" the pony answered. "Pew pew!"

It was somewhat startling to discover that she found the need to provide her own sound effects. Once the shock wore off, though, Twilight was left with a grin on her face. Even when a little depressed, Pinkie was still Pinkie. "I've been thinking about this since earlier, when you said it was getting hard to throw parties that all of your friends could attend. You aren't... mad at me, are you?"

That immediately drew Pinkie's attention away from the paper. Her sky-blue eyes locked with Twilight's own before the latter could make a retreat. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well, it was just that one time when Spike needed to go to Canterlot," the mare started, finally managing to look away and at the surrounding grass. "When we were told that Spike couldn't stay in Ponyville anymore—"

"Oh, Twilight," Pinkie said, almost with a laugh, "of course I'm not mad at you! That was really important! And besides, apart from that one, you and Spike always come to my parties. You shouldn't worry so much about small things like that."

She was a strange pony to take advice from, given the circumstances. Still, the fact that she had a point made Twilight giggle. "Maybe you're right." Now wanting to get away from that topic, she leaned forward in her spot. "Did you find what you needed on that map?"

A bouncy reply was half-expected, and received. "Mm-hm! I have a good feeling about tomorrow!"

Twilight avoided the brightness emanating from her own horn to look up, all the way to the moon. It didn't hold many answers for her, but it was still a beautiful object to look at. "I hope your good feeling is right, Pinkie."

"We start first thing in the morning!"

Those were the last spoken words between the two for the night. Pinkie shuffled the map clumsily back into her bag and Twilight halted the flow of magic to her horn, instantly coating the both of them in blackness.

Crickets sang a lullaby as both ponies drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	3. A Good Feeling

It was an early morning for Pinkie. The first thing she realized was that the sun was barely even awake yet; it was still a pretty early dawn. She stayed in her relaxed position, despite knowing she wouldn't get back to sleep.

How could one sleep when they were on an adventure with a friend? Her eyes made their way over Twilight's peaceful form, cautiously scanning over it, as if they were afraid they might wake her up. The truth was, she had been terrified of going on this journey. But if she had known Twilight was going to tag along, she would have left days ago!

Her eyes glazed over as she observed her friend consistently inhale, then exhale. She wasn't positive what Twilight's true motives were for coming along with her—the filly didn't seem to have much stock in the whole reverstone thing, after all—but whatever they were, words could never express how glad she was that a friend was by her side.

In fact, she was so grateful, she needed to show it. A nice breakfast should be waiting for Twilight when she woke up. Not just yucky grass that could be found anywhere. Something more special than that.

Her nature-made bed wasn't doing her any favors while she stood up. The crinkled weeds that had been underneath her began to spring up, making an obnoxious rustling sound while they did so. Twilight's reaction: she rolled into a slightly tighter ball. Pinkie, glad her side-quest wasn't over before it started, saved her sigh of relief until after she had quietly cantered away in search of food.

Their eyes had deceived them the night before. Thanks to the very beginnings of daylight, a few tall trees could be spotted in the not-too-far-off distance. There had to at least be a shot that one of them had fruit on them, right? Feeling confident in her tree-guessing talents, Pinkie made a quick beeline for them.

The run shifted to a trot, which changed closer to a crawl as she neared the woody perennial. She thought she saw... something behind the first tree on the left over there. An eyebrow of hers rose upward when she confirmed the suspicion.

Leaning against that very tree was a bipedal... thing. It was pretty big in girth, and standing up like that, it was definitely taller than Pinkie was. Other details about it were scarce, as it was wrapped in a long, thick overcoat and cowl. She could make out some sort of muzzle, but couldn't place it to a species. She would have thought it was a minotaur if it was about a pony head-and-a-half taller.

Intimidating appearances tended to not be very effective against the party pony. After all, a few strange fashion choices was a silly reason to not make a friend. A few bounces was plenty to take her into earshot of the creature. "Hiya, Mister!"

The high pitched noise must have startled him; he froze for a second before coolly turning around to face her. She was definitely right about the muzzle, but that cowl was so long, she still couldn't make out anything on his face even though she was looking right at it. How did he even see out of that thing?

After accepting that he had company, the beast-thing left his two-footed perch, crashing down to the earth with his other two appendages (paws? hooves? The cloak was getting in the way from telling). He turned around fully to face Pinkie Pie and spoke using a suave, almost pleased-sounding voice. "Well, hello there, pony folk." His mouth moved. _Definitely_ sharp teeth in there. Still, a new friend is a new friend. "And what brings you out to these parts?"

Pinkie donned her determination expression. She had spent awhile practicing that expression some time ago, for a quest that may or may not have involved color markers. "I'm searching for a legendary stone! But, right now, I'm actually just looking for breakfast."

"A legendary stone, eh?" Her new friend coughed. Or maybe it was supposed to be a laugh. "That's funny you should mention that. I happen to be pretty good with artifacts."

"Ooohh," Pinkie hummed, amazed, "So you're like an artifactiologist! Right?"

The creature stood still for a moment. It was hard to tell if he was just staring at her blankly, with that cowl over his eyes and all. "You're a vivid one, aren't you? So now, what's this stone you're after?"

A little of her heart was lost at that question. She had barely done a good enough job of convincing her best friend that their target was real, so a new friend would probably just call her nuts. "It's, er... called the reverstone, and it lets you go back in time." Her neck craned halfway back to the campsite. "Twilight doesn't really believe it's real, but..."

"The reverstone, you say? Well, I might have heard of that one before. Let's just take a look now."

To Pinkie Pie's expanding excitement, her new friend started to reach for a pocket inside of his heavy coat. His sleeve had rolled back just enough to reveal what she most certainly identified as a paw. It was okay he wasn't a pony. He'd be one big pony, anyway. She wasn't left with much time to celebrate the discovery before a second one was made.

From inside his cloak came an old-looking book. Almost like one Twilight would have. It was a hardcover book with a large diamond stretching from top to bottom on the book's brown covers. It was somewhat strange that there wasn't a title on the book; even just a _Rocks for Dummies_ would have made sense. She paid it little mind, however, and even less when her pawed friend spoke up again.

"Ah, here it is. Thought so. You're a dreamer, aren't you?"

Pinkie couldn't stop herself from issuing a loud, sudden gasp. Her conversation partner cringed a little, probably not expecting it, but that was okay. "There's information about it?! There? In that book?! Can I see?! Ooh, if Twilight saw that it was written about in a book—"

"Maybe next time," her friend interrupted, setting the book away. It almost seemed like he had been ready to say something to that effect, but immediately afterward, he carried on, "For now, go back and tell your friend this: If you keep heading west, you'll come to a cute little desert. Cross that desert, and you'll find a cave not far at all after it. Head in there, and you may like what you find."

"_Eeek!"_ Pinkie screeched, again to the chagrin of her friend. "The reverstone is right here! So close to Ponyville! Oh, wait until Twilight hears this!"

Shaking off the latest outburst, his muzzle twisted upward into a grin. "You can go ahead and take these, too."

He reached into a different pocket—an outside one this time—and grabbed something in it. His claw reappeared, and with it, two delicious looking apples. He rolled them on the ground toward the pony, then turned around. "You take care of yourself."

Pinkie Pie was bouncing up and down where she stood by this point. If she hadn't woken up so early, she would never have found out that information about the reverstone, would never have gotten those giant red apples for breakfast, and would never have _made a new friend!_ The good feeling she had last night wasn't a fluke without a doubt.

As her new friend slowly moved away, his coat trailing behind him, Pinkie came to a sudden halt in her hopping. "Hey, wait! I never got your name!"

He stopped and turned his head halfway to see her. His cowl completely blocked their view of each other, but that didn't seem to bother him. "Hmm," he growled, "Call me Sam." With no more than that, he started once again on his way.

"Don't you want to know my name?"

That question didn't even get him to slow down this time. He coughed again. Or maybe it was another laugh. "Don't worry. I'll remember you, my pony friend. I'll be seeing you around."

_She was his friend too!_ Pinkie felt like she was going to explode out of her own skin, that's how happy she was. She didn't, though. Why would she even try doing that? Instead, she merrily watched Sam's backside wag side to side as he took each step. After only a couple seconds of that, she snatched both of the fruits with her mouth and darted back to where she came from. "Tw'l'ght! Tw'l'ght!" she chirped along the way, even with her mouth half-full.

Upon reaching her friend, Pinkie wasn't fazed much at all by her co-adventurer having not even stirred yet. Obviously the only way forward was to scream her name louder. "Tw'l'ght! _Puh!_" That was the apples being spit out, leaving them to roll across the ground a short distance. "Twilight, Twilight! Guess what!"

"Can it wait fifteen more minutes, Spike?..."

"Spike?" Pinkie's enthusiasm calmed for a moment, just long enough for her to figure out what Twilight was talking about. "Oh, you silly filly! You need to wake up and smell the decaying plant life!"

It looked like a crowbar would have an easier time opening Twilight's eyes than her body did. When she was finally able to tell where she was, she mumbled a quiet, "Oh." Steadily, the pony rose to her haunches, rubbing her eye with a hoof. "That would at least explain why all my dreams had loud buzzing in them."

She swatted at a few insects that had apparently been circling her. Pinkie ignored it; there was far bigger news to share. "Twilight, you'll never believe what just happened! I met this guy, and he had this thing, and it had _the reverstone_ in it! I mean, not the actual reverstone, but like a description or something. He told me exactly where to go, and I remember it all!"

Three sentences too late, she finally took a breath, giving Twilight an opportunity to get a word in. Her voice made her sound pretty tired still. "Pinkie, slow down... Where do you get all that energy so early? Now, start from the beginning. What happened?"

All right. A few more details couldn't hurt, probably. That didn't mean there wasn't _excitement_ to be had here, though. "Okay. I got up to find a tasty breakfast, when I found a... somebody. He had a big coat on, but I did see a furry paw! Anyway, he said that he was a legendary rock master, and that he knew just where the reverstone was! I couldn't believe my luck!"

"I'm having a hard time believing it, too," Twilight said, using that I-think-you're-nuts tone. At least she seemed to be waking up. "Pinkie, are you _sure _you weren't dreaming this?"

It was almost like she didn't believe her! No matter. This time, Pinkie had the proof pudding ready. "Well, if I dreamed it, where did those come from?" she wondered, pointing a hoof at the pair of apples with a large grin on her face.

Twilight traced the invisible line connecting Pinkie's leg to the fruit. When her gaze reached the objects, her face scrunched up in thought. Pinkie was half-expecting Miss Logicpants to have some sort of explanation for it, but if she did, she didn't bother voicing it. Checkmate, Logicpants.

"Sam gave them to me, that's where they came from!" Pinkie explained. "He gave me directions straight to the reverstone, too!"

"Sam?" Twilight echoed.

A quick nod was her only reply to that. She stretched her body for the apples, grabbing both and handing one of them to her friend. "So eat up!" A solid chomp down one side of the fruit; so,_ so _juicy. "We got a journey ahead of us! A short journey!"

Twilight Sparkle rotated the apple in her hooves. She didn't seem to be inspecting it as much as using it as an object of focus. She was probably too busy thinking again. "I don't know how comfortable I am with this, Pinkie. It doesn't sound like you got a good look at this 'Sam.' And it's just too convenient for me that he knew everything about this reverstone off the top of his head."

"He used a _book_, Twilight. Geez. He's not _that _good."

The unicorn groaned, "Ugh, does it matter? My point is... doesn't this sound a little strange to you?"

"You worry too much, Twilight." There was another satisfying _crunch_ as Pinkie took a second bite of the apple. Mr. and Mrs. Cake weren't around, so she deemed it all right to continue talking, even with her mouth full. "I said I 'ad a good feeling, din't I?" _Gulp._ "And I was right!"

A sigh escaped from Twilight. It sounded almost blissful, but maybe she was just thinking about how wrong she had been. "I guess it's pointless trying to convince you otherwise..." she mumbled, taking a small nibble out of the apple's skin.

"Ab-so-lutely!" Pinkie agreed with overflowing happiness and another bite of apple.

Twilight skipped the verbal response, moving straight to a shake of her head. With a more subtle _rrmp,_ Twilight started on her breakfast as well.

-**TRS**-

There wasn't much of intrigue in the following few hours, or at least in Twilight's mind. After their small, but admittedly refreshing meal, they had simply continued onwards. Twilight tried getting more details out of Pinkie Pie about this Sam character, but the information well was pretty dry. He was on the larger side of life, she had gathered, and he also had teeth distinct enough for Pinkie to notice them. He was sounding a bit like a... well, a monster to Twilight. It wasn't Pinkie's fault that she couldn't describe him well, of course. If he was secretive, then he was secretive. For now, she couldn't do anything but listen to her instincts. _They_ were telling her to stay as far away from that cave as possible.

Unfortunately for her instincts, Pinkie Pie was in charge.

That pony wouldn't even hear of another direction besides west. Even worse, Pinkie now believed in the reverstone more than ever before. Until they went into that cave and found nothing, she would never be satisfied.

It was still going to be a few minutes before they officially stepped out of Mid-Great Plains. Since she couldn't get the hopping, humming, bundle of pink out of the corner of her eye, she decided to start a conversation that might take her mind off things. "Some fresh air and sleep must have done you wonders, Pinkie Pie. I haven't seen you this happy in weeks."

Both the hopping and humming stopped. Pinkie continued to keep pace, however, this time with more of a skip. "It means the world to me that you're here, Twilight. Even if the rest of our friends aren't, this whole thing still takes me back to the good old days, you know?"

"The good old days of three months ago?" Twilight countered, keeping her tone playful.

She got a smirk from the party pony, but not much else. Instead, the pink mare turned to face the ground and slowed down to a trot. "I mean it. Thanks, buddy."

Before she could properly react, Pinkie intercepted her. Two hooves were thrown around her neck in a friendly gesture. Twilight had no reason at all not to smile, close her eyes, and hike a forehoof over her partner's neck in return. "Anytime, buddy."

Mid-hug, Twilight's brain took over. "_Wow,_" she thought. For Pinkie to instantaneously become somber and reveal her feelings like that, she must really value their friendship. It made sense. As things, like friends, disappear, it's only natural to cling tighter to what one has left. In fact, maybe she had done the same thing with Pinkie without even realizing it. If all of their friends were still in Ponyville, would she really have left on this crazy quest with Pinkie? Maybe, or maybe not. The important part is—

Her thoughts were thrown off track when she heard a high-pitched noise—Pinkie's voice. "Hey, lookit that. We're here!"

Twilight opened her eyes back up and turned about face. She was somewhat unprepared for what she found. Ahead of her was three, maybe four blades of grass. Everything past that was nothing but sand. The smallest of grains, absorbing every ounce of sunlight that was given to them, were scattered everywhere in their direction. The other side wasn't even in sight. They'd reached the Haymaker Desert.

It was difficult to beat back a cringe. Twilight began sweating just by looking at the landmark. She was afraid that Pinkie was so enraptured by the cave supposedly across the sea of sand that she didn't take any care in figuring out how they were going to get there alive. Speaking for herself, survival was high on the priority list. "Pinkie, before we start, let me see your map."

"No problem!" Pinkie helpfully lifted the flap to her saddlebag up. The map was waiting for them right on top, just where she had left it last.

With a spark of magic, Twilight grabbed the object, unfurled it, and levitated it over to herself. She stared at the shaggy piece of paper for a moment, and then another. It took her awhile to figure out the problem she was having, but told Pinkie about it the second she did. "How old is this map? Ponyville isn't even on here!"

"I dunno," Pinkie replied with a frustrating amount of perk. "The Cakes gave it to me awhile ago. Actually, I found it in their trash, but that's basically the same thing. It's super cool though, right?"

"Yeah. Wonderful."

Now it was a guessing game. She originally wanted the map in the hopes that it was to a scale—she could figure out how long the desert was going to take with it. Of course, without a sign of Ponyville, it was much harder to tell exactly where they were to begin with. Twilight had studied a few maps of Equestria in her time, but she was no geologist. Between "here" and "there" could be a distance of five miles, or forty. Without confidence in this particular ability, Twilight was forced to roll the paper back up and drop it in front of Pinkie with no information gained.

Well, she did learn something. That map was almost _useless._

"So whad'ja come up with, Twilight?" Pinkie inquired while stuffing the map back in its usual spot.

The librarian didn't even feel like answering that question. Instead, she carefully looked at the sun's position. It must be mid-morning by now; the hottest part of the day was just ahead. Still, she knew she didn't have a prayer of convincing Pinkie to wait until night. Gathering some water was a tempting option, but it could take them hours just to find a spring, which would only bring them closer to the afternoon blaze. It was her gut—an unscientific, if not usually correct method—telling her that the stretch of sand wasn't so long that they'd be spending days in it.

"We'd better get going if we want to make it," Twilight said, unintentionally answering Pinkie's question. "We'll need to cross this desert entirely before we even think about sleep or food again."

"Great! Race ya!"

"I—" A pink bullet sped past her, startling her into dropping her sentence. When she finally registered those last two words, Twilight groaned and began galloping somewhat faster. "Pinkie, get back here! Conserve your energy! Heaven knows you have enough of it..." she quietly added to herself.


	4. Out of the Rain

The desert was a hot place. A really, really hot place.

Twilight's neck was hanging low. She had given up on her mane a long time back; whenever she had patted it into a satisfactory position, the sweat her body was excreting automatically glued it back in a different uncomfortable spot. She was exhausted, hungry, and bored. The sand underneath her hooves got _really_ annoying after about the millionth step on it. Her brain wasn't functioning very well either. She could clearly see the sun's position, but couldn't remember if it meant late morning or early afternoon. That would be the difference of a couple crucial hours. Even though to her, it felt like they had been walking more than the entire day.

Mother Nature proved her powers by doing the impossible—taming Pinkie Pie. There was no skipping, playfulness, or overabundant laughter. She was certainly doing no better than Twilight, at the very least.

Luckily for the violet filly, Pinkie wasn't completely broken. Even if it was weak-sounding and constantly interrupted by panting, Pinkie refused to stay very quiet. This time it was a good thing; it kept Twilight's focus on something other than how awful reality truly is. "I hope... our friends are... doing okay," was one of her musings.

"Better than us anyway, right?" Twilight responded, giving herself an exhausted giggle.

"When we find the reverstone... it'll be totally worth it."

She moved her eyes to look at Pinkie's slumped form beside her. She chose once again to keep her thoughts to herself.

The trip was a lonely one. Not much wildlife bothered to stay here in the Haymaker Desert for long. Another chunk of time passed, and still there wasn't a sign of anything but coarse grains everywhere. On the bright side, the sun was definitely past its maximum height, meaning it might just get cooler soon. That was about the only thing that had changed.

"... So call me... hay-be..." Pinkie huffed in a pathetic-sounding singsong voice. "...or something..."

She was starting to sing songs Twilight had never heard of and using words she had made up to do it. There had to be _something_ else to do at this point.

Random chance heard that silent plea, and turned her eyes to a specific spot on the ground up ahead. There was something there. Something that wasn't just more stupid sand. "Hey... what's that?"

"What's what?" Pinkie wondered. It had been awhile since Twilight had spoken, making any topic she brought up worth delving into.

Twilight stepped up the pace only to near instantly regret it. The gallop she tried exerting herself to quickly made her feel dizzy. That didn't slow her down, though it did make her stumble a bit on her way. For the sake of something new, it was perhaps worth it. Lying on the sand she hated so much, a long string of rope was waiting for her. It was coiled into a neat circle, just like one would see in a barn. Pinkie caught up to her and gave the object an examination of her own.

"Oooh. What's this doing here?"

"I'm not sure." Twilight tapped on her chin in thought. She then knelt as close as she could to the twine without touching it, narrowing her eyes at it like it had done something wrong. "Something isn't right. This rope doesn't look old at all. And on top of that, there's nothing on top of it! Sand should have slowly started to cover this thing up in time. If I had a guess, I'd say that this lasso hasn't been here very long at all. No more than a few weeks, at most."

"So?" Pinkie cocked her head to the side, her mind having been temporarily occupied enough to remember she was supposed to be tired. "What's wrong with that?"

"It just doesn't make much sense," she said. "To all of my knowledge, the only notable thing past this desert is the secondary way into Canterlot. Anything past that, and you might as well just take the train. We're here under... special circumstances, but there had to be a pretty specific reason for somepony else to come all the way out here, especially recently."

"Huh," her partner conceded, "I guess you're right."

Twilight straightened herself up for the first time since entering this oven. She wasn't sure if Pinkie really followed her logic or not, but it didn't matter much. "There's no telling when this could be helpful. We should take it with us just—"

The rope wasn't the only thing that had been waiting for them there. Even when she looked up and saw it with her own eyes, she couldn't believe it.

Before her unprepared gaze was a natural phenomenon. A tornado made entirely of sand was silently making a dash toward them. The amount of stealth it had was incredible; it was second only to the massive area of effect. In Pinkie's insane rush forward, Twilight had completely forgotten how weather acted in extreme climates. It's said that since pegasi don't have the need to control the weather there, Mother Nature came up with her own schedule. Tornados concocted from nowhere, including areas without a trace of wind, were fair game in these parts.

How could something like _that_ slip her mind?

There was no running from it. It was far too late to prepare for it. There was only one thing to do.

"Twilight, grab the rope!"

Grab the... wait.

Twilight, seconds away from a panicky breakdown, turned her attention to Pinkie Pie. The mare had clearly already seen the destructive force heading for them. One end of the rough string was in her mouth, while she hastily offered the other end to her friend. Her expression was a pleading one, but somehow, she still looked calm.

"Please, Twilight, grab the rope and don't let go! We need to stay together or we won't make it!"

The rotating mass of wind was giving up on its quiet routine. It was mere yards away by now, and it was exerting whirlwinds and a terrifying whooshing sound to make sure the ponies knew it. Sand was being thrown out of it in unpredictable bursts, only to have more of the stuff replace it.

"We won't make it anyway!" Twilight cried, crumbling to her fears.

"We _can_ make it! You just need to believe in me!"

The Element of Magic whimpered. In spite of all the power she had inside of her, she could only see death when she dared a glance at the tornado. Suddenly, she hated herself for wishing for something new to do. Trotting endlessly in the unbearable heat of the sun was starting to look like a highly appealing alternative right now. With so few options left to her, Twilight took the piece of thread from Pinkie's hooves. She bit down on it like it might be the last thing she ever did.

She earned herself a grateful-looking smile from Pinkie. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't allowed to revel in it for very long. Her hooves were lifted one inch off the ground, then two inches. Without warning, she was jerked toward the spinning spiral like she was magnetized to it.

Both ponies were sucked into the high speed desert tornado.

Entering it was terrible. Twilight felt her neck get whipped in a way it usually doesn't. That hurt. Inside the tornado was terrifying. Visual was nearly nothing. Sand was everywhere, making Twilight keep her eyelids slammed shut for the most part. When she did chance opening them, and could see through the record-shattering winds, the only bright spot of this whole situation was waiting for her. Although Pinkie Pie was a rope-distance away, the fact that they were more or less tethered to each other helped the situation somewhat. Her friend was determined to keep her own eyes locked tight, too.

Besides that, there was nothing to do but go around, and around, and around, and around again. There was no way to steer, nor was there a brake. It was like a rollercoaster, except without the nice ponies that were paid to help in case something went wrong.

Sand was getting everywhere. In her ears, up her nose, in her mane. "_Oh, Rarity would die if she saw my mane_," Twilight silently decided. "_I'll be in the bath for hours trying to get this wreck cleaned up._" Then she realized that she had a moment of losing focus. In that time, she had loosened her grip on the rope. She looked down and saw the end of the rope that she was supposed to be keeping in her mouth was whirling about haphazardly in the wind .

Her heart stopped beating.

She had a split second to react, which was just enough for her survival instincts to kick in. She activated her horn, using magic to get a hold on the forlorn rope. It worked; she could feel the object on the other side of the connection. Her triumphant grin lasted only as long as it took for the natural disaster to say that wasn't going to work.

Before she even had a chance to move the rope anywhere, a gust of wind overtook her, causing her to pick up even more speed. She was now making several revolutions a second; any concentration she had on her magic was cut to shreds.

"PINKIE!" she screamed, not realizing her voice probably wouldn't carry on for long.

Whether Pinkie heard her, or whether she was safe—or whether Twilight herself was safe—she was unable to know. After yelling helplessly for her friend, everything around her turned to black.

-**TRS**-

"Ugh... unngh..."

Twilight's eyelids fell upwards, letting her gaze outward. Not that she could see anything. Her sight was so blurry, and her head so fuzzy, sight was a luxury that would just need to wait a minute.

What happened after the tornado? 'Round and 'round... she was starting to get sick just thinking about it. She couldn't take anymore after one point, but what happened after—

Pinkie Pie!

Twilight Sparkle bounced up long before her body was ready. It ached, especially her neck from that initial whiplash, but that couldn't stop her. She looked like a newborn foal while stumbling to her hooves, all the while yelling, "Pinkie! Pinkie!"

When she eventually found her footing, she frantically looked around. She was still in the desert, surrounded by brown sand everywhere. A speck of pink couldn't possibly be hard to find. Anything, any sign at all. "Pinkie!"

That was when she looked down. She found what was already a relic from their adventure: the rope. Sturdy as ever, the twine was in mint condition still, though totally unraveled. Twilight followed the extension with her eyes, hoping and praying a breathing pony was on the other side of it. It looked like it led to a pony-sized crater in the grain. That could be a good thing. Or it might be tragic.

Twilight raced over to it as fast as she could. That, however, was not very fast. She was tripping over her own hooves, still disoriented from the entire experience. Her own well-being meant nothing compared to making sure Pinkie was safe.

Finally, she reached the landing spot. Sand was sprinkled on top of a pink body. Most likely, the tornado had released her at a crushing angle straight into the ground. In fact, it had probably done the same to Twilight. With the worst of feelings, the conscious mare fell on her rump and used her hooves to hysterically shake Pinkie's still form that lay in front of her. "Pinkie! Pinkie, _please_, you have to wake up!" she cried, almost beginning to assume the very worst had actually happened.

Only almost, though.

"_Puh! Puh!_" came from Pinkie's direction. A mouthful of sand was being spat out in front of her. Small tears of happiness poked at Twilight's eyes—never had she even dreamed that she would be so happy to hear a dry cough. Taking her hooves off Pinkie's body, the egghead sat in her spot and simply waited to be noticed.

Pinkie sat up, groaning. It looked like she was slightly more with it than Twilight had been, which allowed her to take in her surroundings quicker. That included the pony sitting on Pinkie's right, beaming right at her. The party pony's expression was one of shock at first; it didn't take long for it to move into tears. "Twi-Twilight?"

For the second time that day, the unicorn got assaulted with hugs. In another rare moment of Pinkie showing sad emotions, the mare started crying on her friend's shoulder. "Twilight! When you let go (_hic)_ of the rope, I thought... _(sniff)_ I thought you were..."

Two tear streaks ran south, one from each of Twilight's eyes. It didn't affect her voice, though, and she didn't let any more follow them. She raised a hoof to Pinkie's back and massaged it soothingly. "I'm okay, Pinkie. We both are."

It was hard to keep a good mare down. After a minute or less of the waterworks, Pinkie calmed down enough to take stock of the outcome of events. Neither pony was entirely sure of just how far they had traveled because of the tornado, or even how long they had been out cold (Twilight could only guess, as clouds were now concealing the sun's exact position). However, the result was striking; looking a fair distance ahead of them, they could see grass, shrubs, trees, and maybe even a small family of deer. They had made it through the Haymaker Desert.

Both ponies dashed for a large weeping willow tree, or rather, the amazing amount of cool air it was sure to provide. Their revitalization was only beginning, though. Upon reaching that tree, they found a tiny pond filled with more than enough water to quench their thirsts. It would have been the perfect oasis, had it actually been in the desert.

After taking some time for themselves to wind down, Twilight reluctantly asked for the map again. She laid down in the healthy grass to plan while Pinkie Pie ran off to who knows where.

"_All right,_" Twilight thought, scanning the musty document in front of her. "_Beginning Pond is straight ahead, and we won't be able to cross that. To the north is Canterlot. We'll probably need to cut through there if we ever want to get back to Ponyville. I've had more than enough deserts for awhile. South doesn't show anything on this map... wouldn't it eventually take us to Las Pegasus? But we would need to trek over a mountain range to get there..._"

"Hey, Twilight?"

Not minding the short distraction, Twilight gave Pinkie her attention. She quickly noticed that the rope they had forgotten about in their mad rush for shade was tucked carelessly in one of Pinkie's bags. The mares eyes seemed to hold much more wonder than the luggage, though.

Without a word, the pink pony nudged her head toward the south.

Twilight took the hint and looked past her friend. The area over there was covered by a pretty lush forest, making her wonder just what she was supposed to be looking at. Gazing past that, however, she noticed what looked like a stone wall trapped inside the maze of greenery. She squinted even harder. Following the stone wall, in between the top of a bush and the bottom of a branch was a notable cavity.

She looked back at Pinkie, who had a grin that had apparently been growing in size the entire time. Not able to think of anything to say, Twilight magically handed Pinkie Pie her map back and stood up.

Side by side, they took off for the cave that was just past the desert. The one that housed the reverstone in its walls. So said Sam, anyway.


	5. Too Hard to Bear, Part 1

The cave, Pinkie was ready to admit, wasn't all she had pictured it to be. Sure, it was spooky, and kind of dark, but the ancient reverstone ponies could have gotten away with some hieroglyphics or something. Of course, the pair of adventurers hadn't even made it inside yet.

"Pinkie," Twilight began, "I know this means nothing to you, but I want to get it out into the open anyway: I have a really bad feeling about this."

Twilight was peeking into the cave's entrance, her expression saying that she was repulsed by it. It was hard to know why, really. It was just a cave.

"Your opinion is always important to me, Twilight. Well, except your wrong ones."

The pink pony pranced through the barrier dividing the outside world from the rock-side tomb with a content smile on her face. She could have sworn there was a growl from Twilight's direction, but chocked it up to her imagination.

The first obstacle (of an unknown number of them) was pretty simple: a flight of stairs heading down into the earth. The steps alone were plenty to set the mood, though. They were dirty, moldy, chipped, and overall seemed pretty dangerous to step on. That made her feel lucky that _danger_ was her middle name. Pinkamena Diane Responsibility _Danger_ Pie. It did have the notable fault of not being easy to write, but some sacrifices were just worth it.

This was so exciting. She could grab the rock and within moments see every one of her friends again! Vacations were available, too. Twilight would no doubt love to visit old-timey Equestria, or if they found Rainbow Dash, they could go back to the Wonderbolts' very first show! ... But on the other hand, maybe "within moments" was a little too immediate. She didn't really give the Cakes much of a goodbye. She should at least give them a quick "see ya" before departing off into space-time.

"Pinkie, shhh!" Twilight commanded with a harsh whisper.

Always quick to obey an order, Pinkie Pie instantly halted her trotting. The entire downstairs way was silent. For a moment.

"... then... But I... !"

It was impossible to pinpoint exactly where they were coming from, but words that neither Pinkie nor Twilight were saying could be heard post-echo. The muttering was near constant, but it was too difficult to pick out many words.

"_See?!_" spat Twilight, still keeping her voice as low as possible, "I told you this was some sort of trap!"

"This isn't a trap," Pinkie responded, also in a hushed tone. She couldn't stop the adventurous grin that wanted to break out. "It means that there are opposing fortune hunters here! We got to beat 'em to the punch, Twilight!"

Her friend stared straight at her, her mouth gaping. It took a couple seconds for a reply. "_That's_ the first thing that comes to your mind?"

"Yep. Now c'mon! We have the element of surprise on them."

Pinkie continued creeping down the stairs, one hoof at a time. She kept her hearing sharp, making sure that the mysterious conversation continued. If it came to a sudden halt, it could mean they had gotten caught; that was something Pinkie wanted to be aware of beforehand. A few seconds later, she heard Twilight behind her, following.

They were approaching the bottom of the staircase. Below them was a stone floor of which had a condition resembling the stairs they had traversed to reach it. Walls comprised of dirt and very old-looking rocks blocked two of their directions, leaving only a ninety-degree turn to the right. That was advantageous to their stealth mission. Taking charge, Pinkie sidled close to the wall and leaned outward to see what was up ahead.

Beyond that wall, Pinkie found, was a hall. Created with the same dusty tools as most everything else down here, two walls incased a floor, this one made entirely from dirt. The hallway's distance was short, and it looked like it broke apart into both directions at the end. She listened carefully for an update on the voices.

"... And that was when she... the rope, and I..."

"Listen... someone else? I've already heard this one..."

Two voices! So he definitely wasn't just talking to himself, then. Though less important, she noted the mention of the rope. They couldn't possibly be talking about the one Twilight had found, right? Had they been the ones to drop it? Either way, it sounded like their voices were coming from the left up there. Carefully, Pinkie spun around the corner and tip-hooved her way across the floor. It being dirt already helped conceal the sound, but one could never be too sneaky.

While making her way forward, she thought about Twilight. Sure, she might be trying her best to stay quiet, but she could at least get into the spirit of things. If there were fellow hunters here, things could get ugly, or even _dangerous._ Not taking things seriously enough could turn out pretty badly.

Pinkie was close to the forking paths. Even if it didn't look like much of a fork. With those voices coming from the left, she decided to hug that wall, leaving her exposed to the right passageway. Before proceeding, she checked in on her partner; Twilight was found close behind her, following her lead to a tee. It was about time she listened!

One hoofstep, then two. She leaned on the wall with her back, allowing her to stay on two legs and further out of sight. Creeping forward, she first found out what was down the opposite way: a staircase. That would lead them down even further, even though it got pretty dark down that way. Noted.

But now was the time for truth. Ever so conservatively, Pinkie leaned outward, tilting her head so she could see around the corner as soon as possible.

Awaiting her was something she hadn't expected. There weren't a couple of rogue ponies dressed in archaeologist clothes with magnifying glasses in front of their eyes. Not even close. Two black-furred, brown-muzzled bears were each sitting in a corner of the room, luckily not paying attention to the entrance. They were hulking. They were huge! They were... a lot like Sam's size. And they didn't look like they were exploring for treasure. It looked more like they were guarding the room, which speaking of, didn't seem like much worth guarding. It was maybe the size of Sugarcube Corner's main bakery room, with far fewer treats. A couple torches were on the walls for light's sake, which revealed a second staircase going down, and a wooden door on the far side where the bears were.

"Well?" Twilight asked when Pinkie moved back behind the wall.

"They're a couple of grizzly battlers!" she answered, "Some overbearing brutish brawlers!"

The purple mare nodded in understanding. She was probably already assuming she was right. There was still no evidence that this was a trap. "How many of them are there? And are they paying attention?"

Pinkie chanced one more glance out into the room. "Two, and no."

"All right, let's go down those stairs," Twilight suggested, pointing a hoof to their exit on the right. "Maybe we'll find something down there we can use against them."

For someone who wasn't coming up with the plans, that wasn't a bad idea. Pinkie silently showed her agreement with a nod. Together, both ponies moved toward the downstairs chamber, careful not to make a sound that might alert the bears in the opposite room. How far down did this cave go?

That question was quite predictably answered when they ran out of stairs to descend. They were surrounded by total blackness, making the last step somewhat startling. Pinkie barely stopped herself from tripping, squeaking, and inevitably creating a lot of noise. Twilight, on the other hand, seemed fed up with it completely.

"Ugh. Pinkie, we're just going to need to risk getting caught here. I can't see my own hoof in front of my face! I'll cast just a little light, all right?"

"Good," was the captain's reply, "I think I just stepped in something..."

Pinkie wasn't very knowledgeable about the intricacies of having a horn. Twilight always took a moment to "power up," even if it was a spell as easy as that one. She's the magicalist mare that Pinkie Pie knew, so shouldn't the start-up time be reduced to almost nothing?

Twilight wasn't even able to activate the spell yet. Apparently, they had made too much noise. A strongly accented voice cornered them from a short distance away, causing both ponies to freeze where they stood. "Ah, just great." It was female, and her tone sounded kind of weary. "More'a you overgrown mutts wander down here t' torture me a bit more?"

Heeyy. Hold on a second.

Twilight, now unfrozen, gasped. She seemed to work even faster to pull her spell off. A small bubble around the unicorn was illuminated, just like the night before. Their surroundings were unveiled, and much more sinister than originally imagined. The entire cellar was lined with cages—cells—big enough to fit any sized pony. Any sort of luxury was out of the question; they couldn't bother to spare a torch down here, much less hand out cable TV. This whole place was like a jail, except all the cages were empty.

"Com'on, then. Let's git this one done with."

Except that cell up there.

Pinkie and Twilight dashed off, temporarily forgetting the stone floor would gladly carry the sound of their hoofsteps for them. They slowed as quickly as they could when the noise reached their ears, even if both of them still felt the urgent need to reach that voice.

"Hang on. Is that... cloppin' I hear?"

"Surprise!" Pinkie whisper-shouted, leaping ahead of Twilight. The need to arrive in first set the pink mare off-balance, forcing a harmless tumble to the floor.

Twilight seemed to simply ignore that and step in front of the cell. Everything inside the steel box enjoyed a burst of light, including the living creature in it. Orange-colored, blonde mane, slack-jawed, and dirty all over, the pony inside was unable to do anything but stare at the two that were outside. Pinkie, for one, had a giant smile on her pony mug.

"Applejack!"

"A-Applejack..." Twilight stammered, unblinking at her lost friend. "This makes no sense. How did you get here? Why are you in that cage?"

Pinkie Pie finally recovered from her earlier pratfall. As soon as she did, her eyes watered; she was forced to shove a hoof in front of her nose. "And why do you smell so bad?"

The cowpony shook her head, as if she needed to do so to get back to reality. That same head was notably hat-less, making the mare look somehow different than memory suggested. "Whoa, hold up. My question first. Ya'll didn't get yerselves caught too, did you?"

"Caught?" Twilight echoed, "Caught by wha—"

A shout boomed from over near the staircase. It grew somewhat closer with each second, but its owner wasn't down the steps yet. "Who're you down here yakking too?"

Pinkie felt that feeling again. She had the same sensation right before that sand tornado from earlier. It was... her brain. Ever since she had read those _Daring Do_ books, and got inside the fictional mare's mind for the sake of writing her story, Pinkie was somehow able to come up with a solution to bad situations right off the top of her head, just like Daring would. It was a pretty cool feeling, she thought. "Twilight, you have to go!" she ordered under her breath, "Teleport somewhere safe!"

"What?!" Twilight countered, frantically looking between the approaching enemy and her close friends. "I can't just leave you here!"

AJ seemed to side with Pinkie. Giving a stern look at the unicorn, she whispered, "I didn't hear the girl say to not come back. Now beat it!"

"Oohh..." she moaned. With less than two seconds before their unwanted guest showed up, she made an impulse judgment call. After just a touch of concentration, she obeyed her friends' requests and vanished with nothing but a short glimmer left behind.

The two earth ponies weren't able to even get a word out to each other. A humongous bear rounded the corner; Twilight's glow may have vanished, but the enemy was considerate enough to bring a torch along with him. The fiery light clashed with the creature's midnight black fur for a chilling effect. Even with one occupied claw, the bear seemed to have little problem walking toward the group of two on three legs. "So, a pony decided to play hero, is that it?"

Pinkie squatted down in what she hoped was an intimidating pose. In truth, she had nothing on him, but it wouldn't hurt to try. "What did you do to my friend Applejack?!" she demanded convincingly.

The large mammal (that looked barely anything like Sam) didn't reply until he towered over Pinkie. They stared in each other's eyes for a moment. His were a creepy blood red color, which was pretty helpful for his scary image. "We locked her in a cage," he reported honestly using his gruff voice. He moved to unlock Applejack's cage, letting the door swing wide open. In a single swipe, the bear grabbed Pinkie's side and shoved her right next to her friend. "Like that."

He slammed the door once more into its most common position, forcing the lock into place right after it. Appearing to be completely uninterested in these events, he shifted back around and started on his way back to the stairs.

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted, running right up to the front of the cage. "Hey! Don't ignore me! Get back here and explain your evil plan to me _right now!_"

The result of that was unexpected. The bear completely ignored her; Applejack, next to her, started to chuckle. "Easy there, Pinkie. I think we have enough questions for each other for the time being."

The glimmer of the torch had just vanished, and already Pinkie's eyes hurt from the overwhelming darkness. She sighed when she realized the bear was gone for good, then set her backside on the ground in defeat. "This is going to be _boring_, isn't it?"

"It ain't no bull-ridin' event," her cellmate answered, all of the laughs already out of her. "How in the world did you an' Twilight even find this place?"

"Sam told us about it."

Applejack made some shuffling noise. Maybe she had sat on the floor too. "I'm sorry, Pinkie, it's been awhile since I was in Ponyville. Which one was Sam again?"

"Sam isn't from Ponyville," Pinkie answered. She surprised herself at how little emotion was inside her words. That was due mostly to her inner self battling to decide if Twilight really had been right about him. "We met him on the way. He's really big, and had a black coat on and everything. I couldn't see much else on him." (That was only sort of a lie. Were the details about the claws and teeth really necessary?)

"And what were you talkin' to him for?" AJ asked next, her tone sounding suddenly suspicious.

"He said he knew where the reverstone was. It was in a cave just past the desert!"

"... Wait, the wha'?"

Happiness was ever-so slowly returning to Pinkie's voice. If only she could see AJ's expression to see if she would need to convince her too or not. "The reverstone! It lets you go through time and do other neat things. Actually, that's pretty much it, but that's not bad for a rock."

"Uhh." She cleared her throat. "I'ma just wait and get that answer from Twi. But, sugar cube..."

Sugar cube. It had been a _month_ since she had been called that. Until it was spoken to her, so close, she hadn't realized just how much she missed that nickname. Sure, she shared it with almost every other pony, but the way she said it to Pinkie felt special. It was only Applejack's friends that she would call that, after all. She continued, "I got some bad news. It sounds to me like you were talkin' to a scout of one of these monsters. I might suggest you don't hang around with him too much anymore."

She didn't need those other details, apparently. Now Pinkie was outvoted two-and-a-half to another half. Had she been too quick to befriend him? Maybe it _was_ worthwhile taking potential new friends' appearance into consideration... at least if they're about seven hooves tall and wearing an unnecessarily shady jacket.

Pinkie Pie was silent for a moment. Applejack seemed to take this as a cue and move along topics. "These critters have lost their minds," she vented. "They call themselves werebears. An' for whatever reason, they keep goin' on about capturing ponies, especially from Ponyville."

"What?!" huffed Pinkie, angered out of her contemplative state. "Why would they do that?"

"Not too sure, Pinkie." AJ's tone became distant. "Reckon I don't wanna find out, either. Stands to reason the both of us are the only ones stuck here right now, though."

Pinkie lowered the volume, deciding a whisper was more appropriate as she asked, "But what happens if they catch Twilight?"


	6. Too Hard to Bear, Part 2

_Okay then!_ She was only in unfamiliar territory with her two friends counting on her with their lives. What could possibly go wrong? Oh wait, right. That.

Twilight's decision to teleport had been a hasty one. It usually took plenty of concentration and a great familiarity with one's surroundings to pull off a successful warp. Twilight had access to neither of those things. Thus, compared to what could have happened, she should be thankful for where she had gotten placed. She was still in the cave, no doubt. That was a given based on the eight beds that were scattered around the room she was in, four of which were occupied by enormous bears. Enormous bears that could probably step on her without realizing it.

The only thing keeping her sane was the fact that the entire party of them were out cold. There were a couple torches on each wall, granting her the gift of sight without needing the use of her horn. What she could see around the room was relatively shocking: bookshelves everywhere. Next to each oversized mattress was a dainty oak bookcase, all of which looked in better condition than anything else down here. They also happened to be crammed full of large hardcover reading material. Ignoring the rest of the boring, standard fare—limestone walls, a dirt carpet, and _very loud snoring_—Twilight's curiosity encouraged her to move towards a bookshelf. For hazardous reasons, she chose one that was next to an unoccupied bed.

First impressions were rarely worth much in any instance. Still, Twilight certainly did not pin these 'overbearing brutish brawlers' as bookworms. She neared the well-cleaned shelf, cocked her head sideways, and began reading the covers of the neatly-lined books to herself.

_The Art of Weaving Lies; Poison Control: A Bite Gone Wrong; The Hunt: A Guide._

Twilight could barely stop herself from cringing. Is this what a vampire's library looked like? Every one of them she glanced over looked like a self-help book that was written in the underworld. Her eyes moved away from the disturbing collection to lie instead on the form of a resting bear. She was starting to get the unnerving feeling that they were far more dangerous than they looked. And that was saying something. "_Why are they so close to Ponyville?_" her brain pondered. "_How long have they been here?_"

Her quest to find good literature having gone horribly wrong, Twilight backed up a few steps. The exit to the room was just over there, in between the beds of two sleeping mammals. It looked like it led upstairs, not that the information helped her figure out where she was. Taking more care than she remembered ever doing before, the unicorn crept toward the doorway taking an average of one tiny step every two seconds. She felt that her fear in awakening these creatures was absolutely justified.

It took maybe a minute, but Twilight made it to the staircase. Just before beginning her ascension, however, a carving in the wall next to the door's "frame" caught her eye. It was within a leg's distance from a giant, snoring bear's noggin; holding her breath, Twilight leaned to the side to investigate it.

_PONYVILLE BASE,_ the top of it read. Below it looked like a series of crudely drawn lines. At least it did until Twilight realized the dimensions of those lines looked familiar. Those, there... that looked like the room she was in. It was a map! She could have clapped her hooves with glee, if that wouldn't have immediately blown her cover. A guide around this place was just what she needed. Making sure to take measured breaths only when required, Twilight allowed herself a moment to absorb the knowledge in front of her.

"_All right, so if we started there... That must be there..._"

Twilight had it memorized already with no problem. By her estimations, walking up those stairs was the worst possible thing she could do. Luckily, she was now able to feel more comfortable teleporting around the place. With just a simple _poof_, she was gone.

On her reappearance, there was a _crack_, and she instantly found herself totally blind. That was, in all honesty, probably a good thing. The practiced magic user casted an illumination spell to cure the problem. The creepy cellar was revealed, and a couple local ponies remarked on her presence.

"That was fast," a southern accent complimented her.

Twilight trotted up to that jail cell. The thought of these things still sickened her. Seeing her friends inside of them without a really good reason by law enforcement only made her feel worse. On top of the welcoming light, Twilight started using magic to fiddle with the lock on the cage. She was no master of lock picks, but there had to be some way to get it open. "I didn't go far. Just to a room over, where there's, like, four more of those things. They were all sleeping though, so I—"

"Wait up, Twi," Applejack interrupted. The sitting cowpony glanced at Pinkie Pie, who was quietly watching Twilight play with the steel lock outside the door. When her head turned back, an eyebrow was raised. "You didn't make that same loud crackin' noise when you left for that warp that you made just now, did you?"

Twilight's eyes sprung open. In a rush of panic, she dropped the pink aura that was hanging around the lock. "There was a _noise?_ There wasn't supposed to be a noise!"

"I'm gonna guess that's not a good answer."

The reverse happened—the unicorn grabbed the lock once more and worked double time to find a way to break it. "Something like that can happen to a teleport done carelessly. I was so excited to get out of there, I wasn't even paying attention!"

Applejack rose to all fours, a look of determination crossing her eyes. As if she had practiced it, she said, "Now don't you go blaming yerself for anything, Twilight. Git us out of here, and we'll make a run for the exit, alert bears or not."

Twilight opened her mouth, but couldn't get any words out in time. The third pony beat her to that. "We can't do that," Pinkie stated. She tried to make it sound like that much was obvious, but a pinch of apprehension could be extracted from her words. "I need to know for sure that the reverstone isn't here."

The free mare frowned. How exactly was one supposed to know if they were making progress picking a lock? Having kept an ear to those words, she decided to throw her thoughts into the pot as well. "As crazy as it sounds, I need to agree with Pinkie Pie. We went through a lot to get here just for that stone. No offense, Applejack."

"None taken," she responded promptly.

_Finally,_ there was a distinct chinking sound. The lock's inner workings crumbled to Twilight's magic, allowing her to snap it off the door and set it softly on the stone ground. If they had the time, she would have done the same to every lock in the room. That way, no pony could be imprisoned here.

AJ was the first to exit the confined space. Nodding thanks at Twilight, she continued where she left off. "I guess I'm just gonna need to trust you girls on this rock thing ya'll keep talkin' about."

"We'll fill you in on everything when we get out of this mess," Twilight promised, shutting the cage behind Pinkie Pie for neatness's sake. "Pinkie, when we get up the stairs, there should be a door straight ahead. That's the _only_ room it could be in. We're just going to have to go through anypony—err, thing in the way. Now AJ, I'm sure they didn't treat you very well here. If you're not up to fighting—"

"Don't even finish that sentence," ordered the orange pony. "If'n you're thinkin' for one second I don't want to knock the daylights outta them overgrown rats, you got another thing comin'. We'll give you some time, Pinks."

Pinkie's grin was wide; she was genuinely thrilled. "Thanks, you guys. You're the best!"

That wasn't to say Twilight wasn't happy. She too wore a passionate smile on her face. There was a rewarding feeling about freeing a lost friend from enslavement, then getting to mess with the ones who did it. "Come on, girls!"

With Twilight in the lead lighting the way, her two equine friends trailed behind her, equally eager for what the next five minutes held.

Stealth was something of a lost art past that point. Twilight was sure she had at least caused a yellow alarm with that earlier careless stunt of hers; those suspicions were confirmed as they climbed the staircase and a third voice could be heard up ahead. Thankfully, her friends didn't blame her, so she wasn't going to either. The fact remained that those bear things weren't expecting three ponies to charge up the stairs and rush them. Arguably more valuable than stealth, the element of surprise would work just fine.

The sound of hooves clopping against stone steps wasn't particularly subtle. They were nearing the top, making her wonder if they had been heard already. "Get ready," she warned her crew.

"Worms," a bear growled with a strong rasp.

They'd been heard.

Twilight was the first to reach the top and see into the room with the elusive door. It looked no different than when Pinkie Pie had observed it before, with the exception of there being a third brute. "Go, Pinkie!" Wasting no time, Twilight powered up and fired off a volley of magical blasts. Non-lethal, but definitely with a sting to them.

The third guest—the one closest to the staircase in _that_ room—squatted into a defensive stance. "I told you I heard something!" he roared. "It was that unicorn!"

Pinkie darted past Twilight on her left; Applejack blasted past her on her right. The energy orbs all collided into a single enemy, knocking him backwards with a grunt of annoyance. Applejack swerved towards the second of the three, who remained stunned by her sudden appearance. Once within range, she spun around on her front hooves, rewarding the bear's slow reaction time with a buck to the face.

With one bear on his backside and another one Applejack'd, Pinkie found her opening. Without losing focus, she buzzed straight for the wooden door on the opposite side of the torch-lit room. She got a working grip on the handle with her hooves and pulled out, slipping through the doorframe the moment there was enough space.

"_Good,_" Twilight thought. "_At least the easy part went well enough._"

"Twilight!"

The librarian snapped back to full attention. The third bear had gotten Applejack in a grapple. It was frightening, almost, the way somepony as strong as AJ squirmed uselessly in that creature's hold. Hastily, Twilight attacked with more powerful magic attacks. Her aim was good enough; a couple orbs nailed him in the face, while a few others hit in the gut directly below where he was holding Applejack.

"Owe you one already, Twi," Applejack stated, now freed from that bear hug. She hopped forward, skidding in front of the door their friend was behind. "You make sure we have an exit, and I'll make sure they don't get to Pinkie!"

"**Werebears!**" the first one cried out. There was no way anything was sleeping through that. "**Attack them!**"

"_Werebears?_" Twilight thought to herself. Those books she had found earlier crossed her mind, and her imagination soared with dreadful possibilities.

One of the massive creatures approached Twilight using all fours. Having the red eyes of the bear bore through her own was intimidating enough, but she could already hear shuffling around from their downstairs bedroom, meaning their trouble was about to be doubled. She wouldn't stand a chance without her magic, so she didn't hesitate much to tap into her reservoir of skills.

A streak of white-blue lightning emerged from the tip of her horn. She had never found much use for that spell before, but today was the day. The bolt of electricity struck the werebear dead on. However, something was amiss. There was no grunt, pain, or even comical bone-revealing voltage. It barely slowed the creature down.

Shocked more than the target was, Twilight took a step back to distance herself from it. She relied on her observational abilities and stared directly at where the lightning had hit him. The solution to her problem was reluctantly found: the lush black fur covering the monster. "Their fur is so _thick!_" she reported to AJ, "My magic can barely do anything!"

"Find somethin', sugar cube," Applejack recommended in return. "It's about to get worse."

Twilight dared to take her eyes away for a moment to look at the staircase. Three more bears, all of which she recognized from her earlier stroll down there, were pounding up the steps. With six-hoof-tall bears everywhere, the room was getting crowded very quickly. Worse yet, they had barely given Pinkie five seconds to look around yet; if they couldn't find a weakness soon, she wouldn't have friends to walk out to.

Twilight gulped. Growing ever less confident, she flared up her horn one more time.

The fight seemed as fair as it was going to get: two three-on-one matches. Applejack looked at the encroaching enemies. Unlike Twilight, she had nothing to rely on but pure power to muscle the werebears down. Considering how much stronger those things were than the farmer, that fact left her unnerved. Scraping together some willpower, she launched an assault anyway. A sweep of her leg, meant to trip an oppressor, worked successfully. She was given the opportunity for a free buck, one she took without another thought.

A second bear stepped up and tried stomping on her. She was barely able to catch sight of the attack in time to dodge it. Even with one deft evade, the last enemy was ready. He grabbed AJ on her side with a massive claw and dragged her across the floor—all the way up to smashing her into the wall. There was no time to relax; he took his other claw and attempted to pound Applejack's face into the dirt with it. After the first agonizing blow, the "dodge" she executed was more like an accidental stumble in a safe direction. All three bears were now back in the game, the one she had kicked showing no pain at all. The sight nearly made her collapse to her haunches.

Panting and in pain, Applejack refused to move far from that door. "Twi..." she groaned, "we got a problem."

Twilight was in danger of losing control of her position. She continued backing up, too unsure of what might be effective to try anything. When Applejack's plea reached her ears, however, she had something of an epiphany. If strength and magic weren't doing much against them, maybe the use of some wit would. Her conclusion: a rush forward. The three bears, seemingly not about to curse her practical surrender, all lunged for her just as her horn glowed. She teleported away to the opposite side of her enemies, this time really not caring if she made any noise with it. With their backs against one another, Twilight mule kicked the nearest werebear. Of course, it was hardly a respectable shove compared to Applejack's moves, but it at least knocked the target to the floor. She whipped around and hurled some more magical pellets at a different one.

Before she was able to confirm any damage done with them, her attention was diverted by a pair of furry arms enclosing around her. She _much_ preferred Pinkie's hugs to this one. Her legs were all held in a position by the werebear's body that made even squirming around difficult.

Her friend was able to notice the danger she was in. Still, there was only so much that shouting her name would do. As Applejack tried barging her way through the swarm of her own enemies, she was plucked off the ground like a ball in a sports game. She too was squeezed hard against the sharp, unkempt fur of a werebear. "Dumb... fur ball!" she muttered when she could find the breath for it.

Just as quickly as she had been scooped up, one of the most unlikely rescues was made. A door was bashed open; Twilight couldn't see it due to her predicament, but since there was only one door in the entire cave, she could guess who it was. The bear holding on to Applejack had been standing directly in front of the hinged block of wood, breaking his concentration (and nearly his back) when it was shoved with so much force.

AJ fell to the ground on her hooves while Pinkie Pie slid in between the bear's legs to reach the other side. "Twilight, clear the way!" Pinkie requested, galloping in her direction.

There was another set of hoofsteps, too. Applejack must be right behind her. Twilight cursed under her breath. If it was so easy to "clear the way," she would have done it five minutes ago. A thought breached her mind—a second spell that she had had little use for before now. Since her horn was helpfully unimpaired, she used it to create fire... a fire on herself. Her entire body erupted into flames with nothing but a _very_ thin sheet of magic protecting her from herself.

The room was instantly made about ten degrees warmer. Against their own wishes, the two werebears that were circling Twilight backed away, while the third made sure to release her from his grasp first. Her plan had worked. Somehow.

Her two friends bolted past her and the rest of the bears. When they had safely crossed to the other side, Twilight warped to meet them. While they made a break down the hallway that led to the exit, the unicorn turned back around to face the werebears. "Don't look back, girls!"

The snarling bears took notice that one was staying behind. They crept towards her, as they had done so often today. This time, though, she had an actual plan to follow through with. She cast a spell of a different nature. This one made a blinding flash covering the entire room. With her eyes closed, she could smell a touch of the pleasant fragrance in the air... and then _thud._

She deactivated her horn and opened her eyes. Scattered around the entire room were six werebear bodies. All of them seemed to be in a contest to see who could snore the loudest. They were all out cold, which made Twilight feel like she deserved a sigh of relief. Smirking at one that was snuggled up in a sort of cute ball, the up-and-coming sorceress flipped herself around and chased after her friends.

It felt so good retracing her way back up the stairs leading outside. She could never look at a cave the same way again. Trotting up the stairs, she could see the sun waiting for her. It looked like it was just about to begin its descent for the day, casting a wonderful atmosphere on the world outside. That made her pick up the pace by a bit.

That wasn't all that was waiting for her. When she finally reached fresh air, she found her two close friends in a hug with each other. The scene was made even more memorable by Pinkie wearing Applejack's cowboy hat, not that Twilight was sure where it had come from. A part of her felt like she was intruding; a bigger part of her wouldn't have wanted to miss the embrace, and those smiles, for the world.

"I definitely missed you, Pinkie," AJ stated, perhaps not noticing Twilight yet. "After all of that, I think I could use a party about now."

Pinkie spoiled the moment by backing away from the gesture and turning her head toward Twilight. The lavender mare needed to suppress a laugh; there was something about Pinkie in a western hat that was just humorous. "Hiya, Twilight. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, stepping up to the group. "I just used my Sleepytime spell. By the time they wake up from that, we'll be long gone."

"So Applejack, what happened to you?" Pinkie asked, "You barely said a word before taking off like a month ago."

"Didn't you hear what I called back to ya when I got on the train?" Pinkie shook her head, and Twilight wasn't much help either. The cowpony gulped. "Guess it must'a looked like I practically ran off then, didn't it? I told Big Mac to tell ya'll where I was going if you came out to the farm. I barely remembered to call that out to you when I was takin' off, but my voice must have gotten lost over the train's engine."

The other two ponies shared a regretful look at each other. It truly hadn't crossed either one of their minds to check on the Apple family in Applejack's absence. Twilight was the first one to get words out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, Applejack. We should have made sure the farm was doing okay without you needing to tell us. I guess since Apple Bloom was always running around town, we just thought..."

Applejack chuckled modestly. "Shucks, Twilight, no need for an apology. Big Mac is more than enough pony to take care of Sweet Apple Acres." She paused in order to give herself a seat on the ground. After a breath, she continued, "Anyway, my story goes like this. We got a letter from some place way out in Pranceylvania wanting four entire crates of our apples. It looked like some business that I'd never heard of before, but who're we to turn down an order like that? So we loaded up the next train going out. That was when I ran into you, Pinkie. The train was set to take off in minutes and I wasn't on it, which was why I couldn't say much."

A calming draft broke the story up. After the workout back in the cave, it was a welcome breeze. Though, it could have also been an omen of sorts. Once it passed, Applejack's tone, along with her tale, grew darker. "It almost felt like everything that could go wrong along the way did. The darn train broke down three times just gettin' there. 'Bout a week later, I finally made it. Nice place 'n all, but I couldn't find that business anywhere. Askin' around, I found out it had closed down a few years ago. So, I took the apples and got back on the train. Another dang week later, I make it about ten minutes away from Ponyville... then the train gets jumped."

"Jumped? You mean you were _attacked?!_" shouted Twilight in surprise.

She got a raised eyebrow as her response. "Uh-huh. Betcha could prob'ly guess how that turned out, too. Blasted bears dragged me across the desert, and I've been stuck in that box ever since. Figure they're the ones that sent that 'order' in the first place."

"So, wait." Pinkie pushed one of her saddlebags open with her snout. She didn't need to dig far to find what she was looking for. Biting down in the center, Pinkie brought her head back around, revealing the long rope they had found in the desert. "Iz zist oars?" she questioned with a stuffed mouth.

The farmer wasn't able to translate that very well. Still, she seemed delighted at the sight of the twine. "You found my rope, Pinkie! I was able to hide that thing in my tail 'til about halfway through the desert or so. I could'a given 'em a lot more trouble if I'd 'a been able to hang onto that."

Twilight couldn't help but stare at the farm pony's bushy tail for a moment. It was a lot more fleshed out than Twilight's own tail, for sure, but she could really hide a whole rope in there? Oh, well. The owner of the tough string denied Pinkie's offer of giving it back, asking instead if it could just be kept in the saddlebag for the time being. As it was being put back away, Twilight spoke, "That reminds me, Pinkie. Did you have any luck finding the reverstone?"

The party equine sighed in disappointment. "No, not really," she said, not even trying to hide her feelings. "There was nothing but boxes of food and other stuff in there. Oh, this was in there, too." Pinkie finally removed the cowboy hat and handed it off to Applejack as well.

If the rope had delighted her, the accessory thrilled Applejack. She was practically beaming with ecstasy as the material touched her hooves. "Yeehah! Thank you kindly, Pinkie! I was startin' to miss this old—Pinkie?"

The mare had turned her back to her friends. With her head hanging low, she walked away at a snail's pace. A few moments after Applejack's call for her, she decided to respond. "If it's okay with you girls, I need a minute to figure some stuff out."

"She was putting so much hope in that lead..." Twilight turned from her sulking friend to Applejack. The orange pony had already gotten the hat back snug on her head. That grin sure didn't last long.

"So... ya'll wanna tell me what this reverstone thing is?"

Twilight tried to explain anything she could about the situation they were in. Why the adventure had started, emphasizing _where _the idea had come from in the first place, and how they had ended up at the cave, all while inserting her own opinions on the matters when she was able to. Pinkie was a safe distance away and not paying attention, so she _might_ have implied that she didn't hold much hope in the item at all. When she had wrapped up her own adventure, Applejack started chuckling.

"Well, shoot, Twilight. Considering yer thoughts on the thing, I'm sittin' here wondering why you came along at all."

"What was I supposed to do?" the exhausted unicorn asked rhetorically, watching Pinkie Pie from across the gap. It had been a little while now; somepony should probably check on her. "Even if this whole quest is the definition of insane, I couldn't let her leave Ponyville alone. Especially not in the kind of condition she was in."

"Sorta like the condition she's in now?" Applejack stood up and stretched her hind legs out. "I'll go talk to her."

Twilight bounced up right after her. "No, I will. With all due respect, Applejack... you could use a bath."

Once again, the farm pony gave a quiet laugh to herself. "Point taken. Those bears didn't offer me too many showerin' opportunities. Just tell me where I can wash up, and I'll see what I can do."

Twilight told her about the small pond that was straight ahead of them, hidden behind a little greenery. Promising to meet up with her there soon, Twilight trotted towards the local gloomy pony while Applejack went northward. Between fighting weeks' worth of BO or cheering up a depressed Pinkie Pie, Twilight wasn't sure which would be harder.

Even after giving herself time to mull it over, she wasn't sure of exactly what to say. All she came up with was the easiest question to ask, and just hoped the conversation would write itself from there. Not that planning how a conversation with Pinkie Pie might go was particularly productive anyway. "How are you doing, Pinkie?"

A small distance was kept between Twilight and Pinkie's back. The mare would show her emotions when she was ready, Twilight told herself, and approaching too directly would be rude.

"I've made up my mind," Pinkie replied after a moment's hesitation. "I know you won't like it, Twilight, but it's the only way for me to know for sure."

The possibilities were _literally_ endless. Pinkie would find a way to dignify orbiting Neptune for a month to find this thing if she tried hard enough. Against her better judgment, Twilight bit her lip and took the plunge. "... And what did you come up with?"

Pinkie's neck swiveled around so Twilight could see her left eye. The amount of seriousness that one eye held was unnerving. "We need to break into the Canterlot archives."

That shocking judgment call overwhelmed Twilight with the need to groan. Though, not before slamming a hoof to her face. "Pinkie, the Canterlot archives are _public._ We don't need to break in to see them."

"Oh. Then we'll do that." It was hard to tell if she was disappointed in that revelation or not. Either way, she got up from her haunches and turned around to fully face her friend. "Your library's great, Twilight, but all of that old Canterlot stuff is the biggest in the galaxy. If I can't find anything about the reverstone in there, then we can go back to Ponyville... and I'll admit that you were right."

Under different circumstances, she might have felt the need to gloat at that statement. However, the sad tone Pinkie had used when saying it kind of spoiled that. She gently lifted a leg to put on her gloomy friend's shoulder while saying, "I'm not here to 'be right,' Pinkie. It's more important to me that you don't get your hopes up for something that might not even be possible. I think visiting Canterlot Castle is a great idea. And unless _you_ were crazy enough to go back through that death trap—" She pointed at the Haymaker Desert. "—we'll need to go through Canterlot anyway."

She looked like she greatly appreciated those words, but still voiced what was on her mind. "I was just so sure that the reverstone was going to be in that cave. Then I got talking to Applejack, and she said that Sam was a spy, and then I slowly started believing her, even though I didn't want to, and..."

"You don't need to explain yourself to me," Twilight assured, smiling. "It can be hard to recognize the true intentions of new friends sometimes. Especially when they tell you things you want to hear." A second without sound passed by. Twilight's brain repeated those words back to her, and just like that, a light bulb turned on. "Hey, that'd make a good letter to the princess!"

She wasted no time using her magic to pull out parchment, a quill, and a vile of ink from inside her saddlebag. Pinkie giggled, and Twilight somehow felt it was at her. The subject was changed before she could inquire about it, though. "Thanks, Twilight. So, do you know what Applejack is doing? It would be great if she could stay with us, but I'd understand if she wanted to get back to her family too."

"I'm not sure," Twilight answered, setting the jotted note back in her bag. "She's just over here. Let's go ask her!"

Two pony friends, cheered up by each others' mere presence, galloped together toward the pond containing their third, more smelly friend.


	7. Confrontation

It took several extra minutes for Applejack to pass Pinkie Pie's own "smell-me test." After that, although they were all exhausted from the long day, they agreed to press on northward for a ways. The sun was still giving them a couple hours to travel, and should Twilight's spell break prematurely, it would be best for the three ponies not to be standing in front of the cave.

It wasn't going to be an easy haul. To reach Canterlot without some mode of transportation meant climbing Uppeak Mountain manually. It wasn't a dangerous hike, really, but it would probably take the better part of a day to do it. However, Twilight had said, they had no need to stress out over that yet; they could never make it there before nightfall. A heavily wooded area, even complete with a river, would impede their progress too much for that.

Even with a logical reason, it was startling to realize how quickly it got dark inside of a forest. Trees thirty ponies high blocked out the remainder of the sun, even before it fell all the way down. They managed to make it past the flowing stream, with Pinkie only falling in twice (and only one of those was on purpose). Soon after that, the trio found the next closest spot they could call a campsite. Twilight broke every rule of survival just by using her magic to ignite a pile of sticks. Pinkie ended up forgiving her rather quickly, though, and the three of them stayed huddled around the bonfire.

"So," started Applejack, her weary gaze not moving from the fire, "you two hear anything from Rarity or Fluttershy?"

Pinkie shared an uncomfortable glance with Twilight before answering. In the back of the party pony's mind, she found it crazy that one letter from either of them might have prevented her from coming up with this quest at all. "Not a thing. There's been nothing from Rainbow Dash, either."

A rough snort was the reply she got. Now that was strange. Sure, Rainbow had disappeared from Ponyville after AJ had already left. In fact, if she never made it back to Ponyville, did Applejack even know Rainbow was missing? But that huff seemed so... hostile.

"I'm worried."

Twilight's voice broke the concentration she had, and the continuity got messed up in her head. Oh, well. Maybe a bug had flown up AJ's nose.

"We didn't hear from you, Applejack, for so long, and you ended up being in a lot of trouble. What if... What if the others aren't okay too?"

Pinkie frowned. Usually when Twilight says 'what if,' it's for a pretty strange reason. Like, 'what if we don't get the floor swept in time for the meeting?' Then the dust bunnies get to stay and play, silly! But this time was different. She had a point. Even if it was Pinkie's goal to go back in time, that didn't mean she wanted her present friends to be in danger. Applejack was able to quell both of their concerns.

"No need to get too worked up over it, Twi. We're headin' to Canterlot, ain't we? We'll find Rarity's shop and make sure she's doin' okay. Ya'll know the princess wouldn't let a thing happen to her."

Twilight donned a grateful smile. "You're right. If we can get an early enough start, we can be there by this time tomorrow. We'll be able to save some time if we—"

"Shh!"

It was Pinkie that got to shush the librarian this time. It was fun! But also for a good reason. Something was stomping on twigs while approaching them... over there, in Applejack's direction. Seeing Pinkie watch over her shoulder made AJ rise to her hooves and turn around so her back wasn't turned to whatever it was.

The other two must have heard it as well, for they stayed perfectly silent. It was getting louder; it was getting closer. The bonfire they were sharing wasn't a large one, so its light didn't extend far. For better or worse, it didn't need to, since the source walked into the light on its own.

A long coat, with a long black cowl. He didn't wear his sleeves down all the way. He seemed perfectly comfortable revealing his paws. A werebear had found them. A werebear named Sam.

"Why, hello again, my pony friend." His voice was still suave, but Pinkie found it much less charming.

"Sam!" Pinkie shouted. She was on all fours, and angry. "What are you doing here?!"

Twilight snarled at the beast. Applejack threw a glare at him. "So this is the Sam I've been hearin' so much about. Listen, you. I appreciate you tellin' my friends where I was so they could rescue me, but you din't need to trick 'em to do it!"

"It seems I'm on the wrong end of a misunderstanding," spoke a voice from underneath that hood. He didn't seem the least bit bothered with the un-welcoming he got. "Would one of you be kind enough to fill me in?"

Twilight accepted the offer. She was unable to keep anger out of her voice; not that it really looked like she tried. "You tricked Pinkie Pie into walking into a hive full of _your kind! _There was never any treasure there, and you knew it! No one could possibly know about a cave so remote without knowing what was in it!"

Still, he didn't physically react. "I think we should all simmer down and think about this for a moment. If I had pointed you to a trap, what would I have to gain by approaching you like this now?"

Frustrated silence was the only answer he got. Pinkie couldn't... _wouldn't_ trust a thing he said, but still had a hard time answering his question.

He hummed. Whether that was a "that's what I thought" hum, or a "I wonder what's for dinner" hum was too vague to figure out. "Maybe I didn't hear you correctly before. What was it you said you were looking for?"

"Why? So you can lead us to a _bigger _den o' yours?" Applejack cut in.

This time, there was a pause before he said anything. A disturbing pause. He eventually did speak again, but when he did, his tone sounded more upset than before. "I didn't come all this way for a fight. But if that's what you insist on, my pony friends, I'll give one to you."

"That a threat or a promise, sweetheart?"

The farmer's words must have been taken as a taunt. Sam took a series of heavy breaths; then, with a distinct werebear growl, he lunged at her.

"Applejack, look out!"

Twilight tackled the orange pony on her side, pushing both of them away from the painful swipe. Sam landed on all fours once he saw his attack wouldn't connect. The ground quaked a little when his body met it. Pinkie's eyes narrowed at the werebear. Apparently, they weren't quite done fighting for the day yet.

With a mysterious chuckle, Sam walked backwards. He didn't need to take more than five steps before completely vanishing into the darkness. Twilight noticed this after helping Applejack back to her hooves. "He isn't retreating, girls! This is the kind of territory bears thrive in. He's just figuring out a different way to attack us!"

Sam's voice rang out. With his body nowhere in the light of the fire, it sounded like it was coming from every direction at once. It was pretty scary, really, but nothing could be done about it except sidling closer to the fire. "Just because I'm one of _my kind_," he accented, as if mocking Applejack's statement to him, "doesn't mean I'm in league with those other guys."

There was a stampeding-like sound. Pinkie was given only seconds' worth of warning to roll out of the way from a charging werebear. He missed the pony, but didn't stop his momentum. The result was him trampling over the fire; what little sight they had vanished in that same instant. Twilight wasted no time in trying to reignite the leaves and twigs that had fueled it in the first place, but until then, they were blind.

"It's not very considerate to accuse someone of that."

Pinkie Pie bit her lip in an attempt to control some of her fear. The darkness didn't affect her as much as the thousands of questions spinning around in her mind. "Twilight, what do we do?"

"I don't know!" she cried. One after another, she hiked mini fireballs at her inanimate target. With all of it so burned already, she couldn't get a consistent flame going. "I haven't had time to properly research these things. Some creatures similar to him are weak to silver, but I would have tried that before if we had any! And I thought after earlier maybe we could use fire, but..." The stressed mare sighed, probably looking at the burnt remains of their fireplace. "apparently not."

"Probably that darn coat of his ate the fire up," Applejack offered.

Once again, the night was interrupted by Sam's echoing voice. "Why don't you and I talk privately for a minute, my pony friend?"

That wasn't very specific. Or helpful. Proper nouns, Sam! Before any scolding could be done, Pinkie felt a heavy tug on her poofy tail. Suddenly, she felt like she had her answer. Her body froze against her will for a moment, right up until she was yanked with such force that she traveled through the air. She was swiftly flying backwards, toward the way they came from, and very, very far away from Twilight and Applejack. The only thing she could hear over her own screaming was her name being frantically called by her friends.

-**TRS**-

She wasn't sure just how far she had gotten flung. It was quite a toss, no doubt. When she finally landed (somehow having not connected with a single tree or shrub), she rolled over herself four times before skidding to a halt. If she could actually see anything, it would probably have been spinning. Her surroundings were nearly a complete mystery to her; all she knew was that she had a decent view of the starry sky.

Still shaking off the shock of that event, Pinkie slowly got to her hooves. "Where are you? Quit hiding!"

"Oh, I'm not far," said that voice. It remained circling in every direction around her. "Question is, who are you to start pointing hooves at me?"

"I..." Pinkie started that sentence, but had no idea how to finish it. She chose a frustrated screech. "No! Applejack can find any liar! We just can't trust you anymore!"

"That true?" There was some shuffling noises over in that direction. Was he getting ready to make a move? "Tell me, though. Is it you that doesn't trust me, or your friends?"

That sound was temporarily forgotten in the face of the question. "I... don't..."

A second charge. Unlike the first, Pinkie didn't see it coming in time—she didn't see it at all—which made evading impossible. Pinkie got bowled over, and Sam disappeared once again into the surroundings.

"I think you want to trust me," he said. "That's good enough for me."

"Then why are you fighting us?" Pinkie countered, holding her aching head while rising up once more.

"This? This is just to rough you up a little bit. Your friend, there. She got me off on the wrong foot this evening."

The pink pony was far past confused and well on her way to confuzzled. At the exact moment, though, it didn't seem to matter. If she needed to fight, then she wasn't going to hold back. Her eyes immediately turned to the saddlebag that was thrown over her right side. She hadn't opened it much so far, and had hoped she wouldn't need to. It was time.

Inside the bag were four helium-filled balloons. They tried escaping as soon as the top of the bag was lifted, and would have if Pinkie didn't catch them with her mouth. Connecting them together at the base of the string was a lightweight harness. Quickly fitting the harness on herself, Pinkie's feet left the ground. Before long, she achieved what was impossible: an earth pony mastering flight.

"How I do like surprises," said a genuine-sounding Sam. "Especially interesting ones."

Packing the balloons hadn't been an easy decision. It had, after all, been several weeks since Pinkie Pie felt like there was much to party about. However, the decision to bring them along was rewarding her in spades. She gracefully drifted away from earth, her range now exceeding that of even the gigantic werebear. The best part was that the balloons were multi-colored! Even if it was too dark to really tell.

"I'm not sure what you plan on doing once you're up there, but unfortunately, we're not going to find out."

A branch on a nearby tree shook rapidly. And then the one right next to it did the same. The moon wasn't high enough yet, but the stars aided her in just barely catching a glimpse of Sam's jacket. It was startling to see how fast such a big creature could climb delicate tree limbs. Seeing anything, however, was all that Pinkie needed.

When he was close enough to Pinkie's height, Sam leapt from a branch and towards her. He held a sharp claw out, and with no problem at all shredded half of her balloons. Sam fell back down to the earth; what he didn't seem to be aware of was a Pinkie Pie that was following him.

After he got close enough to chop the balloons, Pinkie watched his trajectory like a hawk. With the slightest bit of effort in aiming, Pinkie freed herself from the harness. The remaining balloons carried it into the air while its owner went in the other direction. Picking up some immense speed in the air, the pony held her knee out and...

_Crack._

Less than a second after Sam's own landing, Pinkie's followed. Her extended limb had nailed the bear directly in the face, causing him to instantly collapse to the ground. There had been some recoil to the move, but Pinkie felt safe that Sam had taken the worst of it. That _crack_, after all, hadn't come from her.

"Bonk!" she added after the fact.

Sam made a series of incoherent grunts and sounds while standing up. He seemed truly dazed, something Pinkie felt she should be proud of for accomplishing. After regaining some of his senses, Sam again retreated into the concealing blackness.

Pinkie was half expecting more conversation. A taunt, a question, a demand, or just _maybe _a compliment. She received none of the above. Rather, she heard a series of pounding claws against the grass. "Uh-oh," she squeaked.

Once again, she was assaulted with Sam's signature charge attack. This one was different in the way that after she felt him connect, he failed to let go. Gripping onto her midsection with his arm, he carried her forward for more momentum, then hurled her onward. Unlike before, she felt a tree near instantly; a tree with sharp bark, and a stone planted uncomfortably at the base. Pinkie slid down the former and onto the latter, where she paused to regain her strength. To her great joy, however, her sparring partner spoke up again. He still sounded winded from Pinkie's blow.

"That's good. I'll let you get back to your friends now."

Yet one more time, Pinkie Pie stumbled to get to her hooves. Her side was stinging _really_ bad, but she ignored it. "So..."

"You and yours can think of me any way you want," he answered back. It almost sounded like he could have been smiling. "Just remember that I'm just a guy looking to do some good. And don't worry. You'll be seeing me around, my pony friend."

... Was he gone? How could one know? A sigh escaped from Pinkie. With a limp (getting chucked into a healthy, woody tree _hurt_), she wordlessly started on her way back to camp. She still couldn't see anything, but as long as she went straight, she knew she'd be fine. Luckily, the mental strain outweighed the physical ones.

So was Sam actually an enemy? Or was he more like a rival? Or... maybe Pinkie was right all along? No. He still readily lied to her and never gave an explanation for doing it. That wasn't a very friendly thing to do. Not to mention he started the roughhousing! Even if it did feel like he pulled his punches a little.

_Ugh._ Maybe this was a problem for tomorrow.

The night continued on. It was hard to tell exactly how much time it took her, but finally a speck of light caught her eyes. It was a fire—a controlled fire. Minding the sting on her side, along with the aching of her head and leg, she galloped forward, eager to reach the site and her friends.

Her presence in the campfire's light alone was enough to make the local pony stand up (for some reason, there was only one). The lavender mare sprinted over to her battered-looking friend and threw a pair of hooves around her neck. "Oh, Pinkie Pie! Thank the stars you're all right!" Twilight jerked her head back and started hastily examining Pinkie. "You're all right, aren't you?"

Her eyes must have reached Pinkie's side. The orbs almost doubled in size when she saw it. "Oh, _no_. He didn't bite you, did he?"

Now that she was able to actually see something, Pinkie glanced at her side to see why it hurt so much. It turned out there was a long scratch there, and it was even bleeding a little. Despite that, she had no problem sharing a tired smile with Twilight. "Nah, that was from an unfortunate meeting with a tree. I'm okay." She remembered the pain in her noggin; rubbing her head, she corrected herself. "Or at least I will be."

Twilight took a seat on her haunches. Working her magic skills, she pulled out a clear plastic box from her bag. "I couldn't stop Applejack from trying to find you." The box opened. With a cotton ball, some alcohol, and Twilight's worried gaze on the injury, Pinkie could guess where this was headed. "But I did make her promise she'd be back in ten minutes. Sam didn't try any more of his tricks, did he?"

Pinkie grimaced when the liquid touched her skin. That stung more than the cut did! The question wasn't comforting, either. "Honestly, I'm not sure what happened tonight."

"It's okay, Pinkie." The _demonic_ cotton ball was placed back in the plastic box. Some white bandages flew out in its place. "We can talk about it tomorrow. But after that little intrusion, I'll talk to Applejack about keeping watch in shifts tonight."

"You don't need to do that," Pinkie blurted out before she thought about it. Once the words were out in the open, however, she didn't seem to regret them that much. Even with Twilight's uneven stare. "I mean, after everything today, we all need sleep. And, besides that... I don't think Sam will attack us again like that. Just trust me, Twilight!"

Twilight hung her head low and shook it. After she let out an exasperated groan, she gave Pinkie an answer falling into the "close enough" range. "You should get some rest, Pinkie. I'll talk to Applejack and see what she thinks."

It was difficult to contest that. With her scratch bandaged up, Pinkie allowed herself to lay down on the grass. Within the next minute, she was out cold.


	8. Avalanche Warning

The night had been a relaxing one. Twilight was able to give herself peace of mind by repeating over and over again in her mind that the next day would be far better. No deserts or sand tornados, no sneaking around a base crawling with monsters. Simply a hike up a safe mountain to reach the city that was her first home. The trail leading up there had even been a tourist attraction at one point! Granted, it had been a few years since then, and care had probably stopped being given to it awhile ago, but they should still have a path to follow. And if they could find the time, maybe she could find a few gems for Spike. Any mountainous area was an acceptable mining spot. She did owe her number one assistant something for up and vanishing without anything more than a letter.

Those had all been passive thoughts that lulled her to sleep. When she opened her eyes next, it was due to focused beams of sunlight hitting her face. That did feel pretty nice. She could probably lay here for a few more minutes—

The _sun?!_ Applejack was supposed to wake her up midway through the night for watch duty!

Twilight sprung up, fearing the worst. Looking around the campsite, her worries were eased. Both of her friends were huddled around the remains of a smoldering campfire, sound asleep. Even such a dependable pony like Applejack couldn't make it without rest. Seeing her in that state made Twilight giggle to herself. At least they had made it safely through the night, which was all that mattered. She couldn't see the immediate need to tell Pinkie about the arrangements they had made.

As much as she didn't want to, it was as good a time as any for Twilight to wake her friends up. They needed to reach Canterlot by tonight, and sleeping in wouldn't help them get there. On her way to stimulate her friends, however, her eyes locked with the blackened remnants of the fire. It was completely put out. And resting on top of it was a book. An undeniable, hard-covered piece of literature.

Losing interest in waking her friends for the moment, she trotted over to it. There was a large diamond on the cover, extending from the top of the book to the bottom of it. Besides that... nothing. No name, no author. Getting a hold of it using magic, Twilight levitated it in front of her face and rushed through the first couple of pages to get to the meat of the book. It was written in a language she was totally unfamiliar with. It didn't even look similar to anything she recognized. This definitely wasn't one of her books.

She wasn't able to study it for long without getting interrupted. A sleepy, "Twilight?" came from Pinkie Pie's direction. After the pink mare yawned and stretched, her eyes shot open in surprise when they made contact with the book. "Where'd you get that?!"

"It was just laying here..." Twilight answered skeptically. "Why? Do you recognize it?"

In a cotton candy pink blur, Pinkie was standing next to the librarian, trying to get a glimpse of the sheets of paper inside the cover. "This looks like Sam's book! He had it yesterday morning! Maybe he dropped it last night?"

In the _fire?_ Somehow Twilight doubted that. Her spell was broken when Pinkie reached for the hovering book with her hooves and yanked it out of Twilight's grip. She flipped through the pages, her eyes scanning every word, even though there was no way she was reading any of it. "Somewhere in here is an entry about the reverstone..."

"Pinkie," moaned Twi, "you know my feelings towards that guy. He can't be trusted. For all we know, he scribbled that together the other day!"

"The book's too old for that, Twilight. If anybody tried writing in this, the pages would probably fall apart."

Now Pinkie was using logic? Since when did she even know what that was? _Ugghh._ "Look. I think we should keep it, on the _off chance—_" she strongly emphasized those two words, "—that it'll be useful later on. For now, we shouldn't waste much time. Let's wake up Applejack and get started before it becomes any later."

And so they did. Just a few more miles of forests stood between them and Mount Uppeak. They stockpiled up on supplies when they came across a clean-looking pond that was flanked by non-poisonous berry shrubs (Twilight checked the survival guide just to make sure). A filled belly would go a long way in getting them up that mountain. Only minutes after that, they breached a defensive line of trees and saw their goal: a rocky path climbing upwards. The bumpy road would take them spiraling around the mountain two entire times before they made it into the city on its perch.

From its base, Uppeak looked massive—a guess that wasn't very incorrect. The trail they would be walking on was a mix of brown, from the dirt, and grey from innumerable stone pebbles. With a shared group look at one another for reassurance, the trio of ponies took their first steps onto the mountainous way.

Before any of the three paid much attention to the fact, hours had already passed. In conversation, werebears had come up, along with Applejack's ordeals in the cage. Twilight wasn't able to discover any clues regarding weaknesses out of the tale, though. Pinkie Pie tried starting a song about mountain climbing, which the other two thoroughly terminated before it went anywhere. Just as they were rounding a corner, which would bring them about one-third of the way to the top, Twilight remembered something she had brought with her. A book; more specifically, _Interesting Facts About Canterlot and Everything Around It_. For the next half hour, she was excited to recite intriguing tidbits of knowledge that was kept inside of it.

"Listen to this one!" Twilight's willingness to read while walking caused her to stumble on rocks more than once. AJ was always quick to put a hoof on her to ensure she didn't roll of the mountain or anything, which she appreciated, but nothing was going to stop her from sharing these secrets. "'Temperature differences from Uppeak Mountain to surrounding areas are almost negligible, despite the hill's namesake length. Even at the very tip of the mountain, there's less than a five degree difference in temperature from Canterlot itself.' Fascinating! I wonder why that is?"

She heard a faint southern voice from behind her. It had a hint of sarcasm in it, but Twilight was too busy with her muzzle in the book to notice it. "Keep readin'. We're all dyin' to find out..."

"Twilight?" Pinkie spoke up. She used her I-want-something tone, which forced the mare to pause in her studying. "Can we stop for lunch? My tummy's 'a rumblin'."

"Couldn't agree more!" Applejack chipped in, no longer muttering. "Let's eat!"

Twilight felt a little defeated. She looked up the trail they were walking, then at what was really important—the book her magic was holding onto. "Well, I guess so. We'll just have to save wind speed comparisons until after the lunch break."

None of them carried a cloth, or even a blanket they could use to dine on. Instead, they found a patch of land with the least amount of jagged rocks and stopped to rest there. Being the designated food carrier, Pinkie Pie emptied her bag of all the berries and canteens of water they had collected back in the forest. It was no meal of champions, but it was all they had.

Twilight and Pinkie were facing the way they had come from, while Applejack was turned toward them. To Twilight's right was a gorgeous view of all the land they had traversed in their journey so far. She tried hard to avoid spotting the werebear cave, but besides that, getting to be nearly eye-level with the treetops was worth it.

"Mmm... cherry-flavored! My favorite!"

"Pinkie, they aren't cherry-flavored," Twilight lectured, "They're just cherries."

"Well, duh! A grape-flavored cherry would just be weird!"

The purple mare groaned, unsure of why she continued to try understanding Pinkie's train of thought. Failing that, she reached for a hoofful of a blue-colored variety of food. She stopped herself mid-grab upon seeing Applejack's face. Her expression was a sour one, and it didn't look like it was caused by unripe berries. The cowpony had a fiery look in her eyes, which were currently watching something behind Twilight.

To see what she was missing, Twilight craned her neck around. "What's wrong, Appleja—"

There was definitely something back there, and it was approaching them. The thing was, it was approaching them from the air. And if she wasn't mistaken, "it" was a blue pegasus.

_No._ It couldn't _possibly _be.

Twilight hopped to all fours and twisted her body around. Any lingering thoughts of food vanished. As the blue streak got ever closer, she noticed a speck of red that was attached to it. And maybe some yellow, too. Finally, she couldn't stop herself from bouncing in place from pure joy. "It's Rainbow Dash!" she took the liberty of announcing, "Pinkie, look! Rainbow's back!"

The purple mare was there when Pinkie nearly fell into tears at the mention of Rainbow Dash's name, so she wasn't going to miss this moment. With her mouth stuffed, and her lips leaking berry juice, Pinkie slowly turned her head around to Twilight's direction. It was easy to tell when Pinkie first noticed it was true; her eyes about doubled in size. She hastily swallowed the contents in her mouth, somehow avoided choking, and rushed to be by her companion's side. "It's Rainbow Dash! We found her!"

"No, she found us!" Twilight corrected. How incredible was this? The friend that had the most worrying disappearance of all was flying straight toward them! A large burden on Twilight's heart lifted itself the longer she stared at the speeding pegasus.

Before long at all, a prayer Twilight said every night for the past three weeks was answered. Rainbow Dash softly lowered herself down before them. She looked dirty and a little ragged—not unlike the other three, really—but was undeniable in her multi-colored appearance. Tucking her wings in, she spoke, "Hey, guy—"

She didn't quite make it through the word before a pink bullet darted at her. Without even being able to react in time, Rainbow Dash found herself held to the ground by a sobbing pony. "Whoa, okay. Waterworks. Didn't expect that." She gently patted Pinkie Pie's back with a hoof, all while grinning at Twilight.

"She took your... absence really hard," Twilight explained, finding herself returning the smile. "We both did. Everypony in Ponyville and Cloudsdale is looking for you. Where the hay have you been?"

That smirk didn't seem to last long. She stopped stroking Pinkie's back, too, instead just holding a leg around her. "What?" she asked, deadpan, "_She_ didn't tell you?"

Twilight, confused, followed the vague gesture Rainbow Dash had made. She was even worse off when she saw that it led to Applejack, who was sitting exactly where she had been with no signs of enthusiasm. She changed her gaze back to the cyan pony. "Applejack? What would she know about it?"

There wasn't a response. A clod of dirt was gluing a chunk of Rainbow's mane over one eye; the other stayed trained on the orange earth pony. Applejack seemed to be caught up in the stare down with no sign of quitting. The air was suddenly getting e_xtremely_ tense, a fact that even Pinkie noticed. She backed away from Rainbow to watch the unblinking mares back and forth.

"Dash," Applejack finally said in what Twilight assumed was supposed to be a greeting.

"Jack," was the only reply she got. Still, neither of them had blinked.

"That isn't even my last name," scoffed an irritated AJ.

Rainbow Dash dug her hooves into the dirt on the trail. Her wings bolted outright and her face looked outraged. "It might as well be, considering how much you screwed me!"

The second combatant rose to her hooves. Twilight could instantly tell where this was leading, and was going to do everything in her power to prevent it from getting there. That included jumping in the way of the two, blocking their view of one another. "Both of you, stop it! Now what's going on?!"

"Look, fruit-basket," Rainbow went on, totally ignoring Twilight. "I only stopped here to see my _friends._ If I wanted to see your face, I'd watch a horror movie."

Applejack opened her mouth, but Twilight was quicker. "Rainbow Dash, that was _not_ called for," she scolded, beginning to feel anger rise within herself.

"She started it."

"She did _not_ start anything."

For the second time, the pegasus dug her hooves into the ground. Unlike before, her resentment was aimed at Twilight. That was good. Anything to get her away from picking on Applejack. "She started it three weeks ago!"

An interruption came in the form of a fourth sound. It was quiet, yet attracted the attention of all three of them. "Dashie..." Pinkie mumbled. Her eyes were bubbling with water; it hurt Twilight just looking at the filly. "We're supposed to be... to be friends."

Rainbow Dash took a large breath, then exhaled all of it. Her eyes weakly made their way up to Pinkie Pie's face, so close to being stained by tears. That was good, too. She should feel ashamed for causing that. "We are friends, Pinkie. Just... not so much me and Applejack anymore."

Twilight had to see Applejack's reaction to that. Creating sheer awe, she found the farmer quietly munching on berries, keeping her eyelids closed. "Don't you have _anything_ to say about that?" she asked over Pinkie's self-muffled breakdown. Rainbow Dash resumed petting down Pinkie's fur. Twilight at least gave her credit for that.

"I have plenty 'a things I'd like to say, I can tell you that much."

"If you're going to talk," Rainbow started, becoming hostile again, "why not tell them our little story? Then they can see for themselves how much of a jerk you are."

Sparkle opened her mouth, but this time, Applejack beat her to the punch. That was bad. Any war of the words she lost was just that much closer that those two got to each other's necks. "I would have told 'em sooner, but I reckon they would have thought I was talkin' about Rarity. Up 'til you, she was the biggest drama queen we knew."

"You—"

"Girls!" Twilight shouted, even managing to create an echo of herself. Her hoof rubbed the side of her face; she was getting a headache before the end of this, she just knew it. Since their attention had been received, she continued, "All of us can do without the insults. However, I would _love_ to hear this story. Which one of you is willing to explain it to us? _Civilly?_"

There wasn't a response by either of them for a moment, right up until they gave a synchronized "hmph." Applejack took the reins after that. Pinkie, Twilight noticed, perked up at the start of the story. "It started the day I got that letter I told you about."

"No it doesn't!" was a prepared counter, much to Twilight's great chagrin. "It starts in Pranceylvania!"

"_My_ story starts in Ponyville," Applejack fired back, complete with a glare. Rainbow backed down. "I admit that I did leave out some details before, but only 'cuz they weren't important. Y'see, Big Mac 'n I needed some help loading those giant crates onto the train. We happened to find Rainbow here first, who we got to help us out. Boy, was that some wasted effort."

A snort was issued from Rainbow's direction. Without even looking at her, Twilight lifted a hoof up at her, hushing any potential comments. The farmer continued, "She makes a great supervisor, this one, but not much of a worker. We got the first box in all right. Then it went downhill from there. Little Miss Sunshine Rays here decided she's too good for that. So instead, she starts ragging on us to work harder while all she's doin' is sittin' there flyin'. Big Mac, myself, and no pony else finally manage to get the last two crates in the train."

At the legitimate pause, Twilight Sparkle turned her attention over to the defendant. "Rainbow, is that true? Did you promise to help Applejack, then blow her off?"

"Pfft," she spat, "Hardly! I totally helped with all three of those stupid crates. Even if it was pointless. Tank could have lifted those things by himself."

"_Tank_ would'a been more useful."

Just as Twilight was ready to scream for their attention for the hundredth time, Pinkie managed to do it without needing a raised voice. Her tone was almost completely cleansed from any crying. "But Applejack, why didn't you ask me? I could have helped!"

She got a sincere grin out of the cowpony. It was scientifically amazing how Applejack was perfectly normal, so long as she wasn't looking in Rainbow Dash's direction. "Trust me, sugar cube, I would have, but I didn't run into you 'til after we'd already finished."

"But that can't be all that started the second Equestrian war between you two," Twilight guessed. "What happened next?"

It was somehow unsurprising when Rainbow jumped on board again, spewing more information that wasn't contributing much to the conversation. "She stabbed me in the flank, that's what!"

"Ugh..." AJ sighed, but this time, managing to dismiss her, "At any rate, after I made it to Pranceylvania and couldn't find that shop, I did what any hard workin' pony would do—I kept my head up high 'n started packin' the apples back in the train. It was some rough work, goin' solo like that, but I did eventually get some help. Some _actual_ help. It turned out that those Wonderbolts were in town for a show. One of 'em was kind enough to lend me a hoof. Screamin' Eagle, or somethin' like that."

The pegasus looked physically insulted by that. She scowled, "His name is _Soarin'._"

"Screaming Eagle would be a great name for a Wonderbolt, though!" Pinkie offered.

"Heh. Guess it would be." It took Rainbow Dash a moment to realize what she just said. She quickly shook her head, then leered at the opposite earth pony. "Ugh! Would you just cut to the chase, or do you want me to do it?"

"Considering how much you'll muddle it up, I think I'll handle it." AJ adjusted the brim of her hat to better shade her eyes from the sun. "While we were workin', he got close and asked me if I was Rainbow Dash's friend. O' course, at the time, I said yes. He then asked me if I reckoned she was ready for the Wonderbolts. 'N I gave him my honest, truthful opinion."

"She said _no!_" Rainbow interjected.

Pinkie made an audible gasp. Twilight didn't go that far, but her mouth did gape open. "Applejack?" she wondered, keeping her attention on the mare, "Did you really say that?"

AJ closed her eyes and huffed a small sigh, either to collect her thoughts or calm herself down. Or both. "Here's the thing, Twi. I'm not doubtin' Rainbow's skill in the air. Even across the battlefield like we are now, I still don't. But I've been watchin' these Wonderbolts for awhile now, 'n there's more to it than that. Each of those characters has an admirable level of modesty. Rainbow don't even know what that word means. A well-paid, high-class athlete was humble enough to walk up to me that day 'n help me with labor he got nothin' out of, just 'cuz he saw me havin' trouble. I couldn't even get my own friend to do that. No matter what ya'll think of me, she has yet to prove me wrong."

Twilight turned her attention back to Rainbow. The cyan pony was quietly standing there with her neck hanging low to the ground. After a few moments' wait, she calmly continued the story herself. "Word about it spread almost instantly to every Wonderbolt fan club I know of. I literally became a walking joke overnight. It was pathetic. I wouldn't even dare show my face to the world. So, I ditched weather duties, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale, and set off to right a wrong. I was going to find Applejack."

Applejack's gaze remained on the ground. This was her personal least favorite part of the story. "She ended up 'finding' me in Baltimare, on one of my train's many breakdowns. It was there that she made clear t' me some of our... disagreements."

"I made my right hook especially clear."

"You two fought right there in Baltimare?!" Twilight yelled, exasperated.

"Well," AJ answered, "not exactly. She made sure to stalk me to somewhere quiet first so she wouldn't be seen by all her adorin' fans. But apart from that, yes, pretty much. So, Rainbow. I'm guessin' you're here for a round two? Mind handin' me my rope, Pinkie?"

"No!" shouted Pinkie. Her expression was one of thorough anger, another emotion not common at all for her. She was directing it all at Applejack, but Twilight figured it was only because she had been the last one to speak. "This mountain is a no-fighting zone! No violence past noogies and pre-determined intervals of pinching is allowed!"

That was a really tough argument to debate. Luckily, the orange pony didn't get a chance to try before RD spoke up next. "I already told you, I only swung by here because I saw Pinkie and Twilight. You being here is just... unfortunate." She turned her attention to the first two girls she had mentioned. "I'm really sorry to make you guys worry about me. After I took off for Baltimare, I've been wandering around to heaven knows where just to... think, I guess. I'll stop by Ponyville sometime and we can hang out, all right?"

"But when will that be?" questioned Pinkie with a noticeably worried tone.

Rainbow watched the dirt on the ground for a little bit. Shame it wasn't somehow moving. It'd probably be more interesting that way. "I guess... whenever I can figure out how in the world I'm going to redeem myself in the Wonderbolts' eyes."

Applejack took the opportunity to speak. "Rainbow Dash, if you just weren't such a darn blowhard—"

That got interrupted by a cold glare. "Listen. For rather obvious reasons, I'd rather _not _take any advice you're ready to give me. If you'll excuse me, I got some flying to do."

She turned around to face the same way she had come in from. Twilight lifted up her hoof, hoping Rainbow would see her out of the corner of her eye. "Wait, Rainbow! You aren't staying with us?"

The pegasus looked back at the only unicorn with a disbelieving look in her eyes. "Even if I was, do you _really_ want a team comprised of me and Applejack?"

Twilight let herself think about that question before answering it. She wanted a group as big as she could get it. At the same time, needing to referee their every conversation would drive her to madness. Since she couldn't come up with a straight yes or no, she replied with what she found in her heart. "I want the old team back. All of it."

"Yeah, well..." Rainbow broke eye contact with her. "Tell that to _her._ Not me." Without turning around, she used her wings to carry herself a short distance into the air. "I'll see you later, Twilight. See ya, Pinkie."

She pushed off. If there was even a speck of hesitation, it was unnoticeable. She dove down the length of the mountain before catching a gust of wind, which carried her to the south.

Pinkie ran to the very edge of the cliff after her. "Dashie!" she yelped. Whether it was coincidental or in reaction to the echoing cry, the blue speck amongst a sea of green dove through the cover of trees. She had vanished entirely. Pinkie Pie remained staring at the exact location she had disappeared in. Then, suddenly, she hung her head low and gave off a dejected whine.

It was a heart wrenching sight. Twilight carefully made her way forward in the hopes of somehow cheering her friend up. "Are you okay, Pinkie?"

There was a short sniff. Then a steady reply that sounded forced. "I was writing that story for her... and I didn't even get to mention it."

Twilight gave a pleading glance to their last remaining friend, who was only able to give an unhelpful frown to her. Changing tactics, she moved even closer to her wounded friend until she could snuggle against her neck. "Oh, Pinkie..."

It only took a moment before the shared moment was interrupted. Twilight looked back to see Applejack gathering together the remaining berries and canteens. "Come on, ya'll. Reckon that's a plenty long enough lunch break."

Some time passed. It was probably less than an hour, though Twilight couldn't work up much care for it. Her head was too busy spinning with all the questions that situation had brought up. Pinkie, meanwhile, appeared to be back to her old self. She kept herself in the lead, slightly distanced from her friends, but still bouncing up the path more than walking on it. AJ, Twilight found out, was interested in a conversation.

"Twi? Yer keepin' quiet."

"It's been a draining day," she answered half-heartedly.

Applejack, trotting along next to her, stared at the ground as they moved. She must have been trying to think on her words, as they came out carefully. "You at least see where I was comin' from, don't you?"

"I'm not mad at you, if that's what you're trying to ask."

"Well... that's good." That response made her wonder if she really had predicted the cowpony's question correctly. At least AJ made that sound genuine.

The truth, however, needed to be said. "That doesn't mean I agree with what you did."

"Oh. Somehow, I kinda figured that."

Twilight wanted to rage hard, but restrained herself. If she raised her voice, she might accidentally upset Pinkie Pie again. Not to mention her blood pressure would rise even higher than it already was. _Applejack_ was the reason every pony that knew Rainbow Dash was worried sick about her. And she didn't even think this _might_ have been worth bringing up in conversation before now. It was frustrating, as was trying to remain calm. "I know why you did what you did," she started off with. "And I agree with you about the humbleness thing. The Wonderbolts do a lot of shows for charity, and it's within the realm of reason Rainbow would forget about that once eyes started watching her."

"Exactly! That's why—"

Somewhat reluctantly, Twilight created eye contact with the mare next to her. "But hearing that she isn't ready for the Wonderbolts from a really close friend could have given Soarin' a strong, negative vibe. Her career and her dream could have gotten pushed far away because of what happened. I'm not about to blame Rainbow for being mad at you for that. Did you at least mention that her attitude was the only reason you didn't think she was fit?"

"O' course I did!" she bit back, possibly offended, "I made it just as clear as I did back there that I thought Rainbow's a great flier! It's everything else that could use an adjustment."

Having had sufficient time to think, it was now time to read. Twilight used her magic to pull out the _Interesting Facts_ book again, intending to use it as a means to get the last word in. "In flashing moments—you know, in between the chilling insults—I saw something in Rainbow's eyes that was even worse than fractured dreams. She had lost a friend. And now that I know to look for it, I see it in your eyes, too. Next time we see Rainbow Dash, you two have more to talk about than name calling."

Satisfied with that, Twilight levitated the book in front of her face. This time, she wasn't going to read anything out loud. If Applejack wanted to know the approximate number of rocks composing Uppeak Mountain, she would just need to ask.

_That_ would show her.


	9. The Royalty Treatment

It was beautiful. Or it was going to be, anyway, as soon as they got past these stairs.

Much time had passed since that small incident on the mountain. So much time, the moon had beaten the sun back hours ago. Unlike last night, however, their path was perfectly lit by the orbiting orb in space, so they chose to continue onwards. It would be worth it. Seeing Canterlot all lit up at night was always worth getting pumped up about.

As of now, Pinkie and her crew were taking the last few steps upward, which would officially get them off of Uppeak Mountain and into the city. Having never been up this way to Canterlot before, her friends listened as Twilight explained that this would take them to the same station that the train led them to. That was cool. Pinkie knew just where that was, so getting to the archives would be easy!

Reaching the last step, Pinkie looked around in awe. Twilight wasn't lying—the stairs literally led inside of the station. It was pretty quiet in there that night. Some ponies were sweeping, while others were rushing to get to the vending machine, while Pinkie was pretty sure that one over there was trying to make it _look_ like he was working. Oh, well. She wouldn't rat him out, anyway.

The train wasn't at the station right now, making the whole thing one giant, grey, empty building that happened to have tracks running through the middle of it. Twilight took the lead from Pinkie, happily spouting, "Come on!" while skipping toward the exit. It figured Twilight was happy to be back home after everything that's been going on these days.

The large doors to the place were already wide open, letting in sweet nighttime summer air. Just outside of them was a white-furred Royal Guardspony, identified easily by the golden armor that was weighing him down. They must be really strong ponies to be able to wear that all day. "Good evening, sir!" Twilight greeted as she walked past. Maybe she knew him? To Pinkie, they all looked the same.

The guard studied the three of them for a moment before donning a polite smile. His voice was crystal clear, like he trained day and night to get it that way. "You have good timing. The princess has asked to have an audience with you."

"What?" Twilight questioned, stopping in her tracks. "I didn't get a letter or anything..."

"It is not of importance. She merely asked for you to stop by the castle the next time you were in town."

"Huh. That's strange." Twilight seemed to forget any strangeness about it. Instead, she beamed and turned to continue on her way. "Oh, well! We're headed that way, anyway. I wonder what the princess wants to tell me?"

She didn't get very far. The guard cleared his throat. He got her attention fully when he spoke up again. "Actually, she requested to see Miss Pie."

Pinkie felt a surge of adrenaline. She'd never been individually asked by a princess to hang out before! What did she want? Maybe a party? Pinkie could certainly break her no-party streak for a princess. ... Oh, but Twilight. The poor unicorn's mouth dropped open. She _must_ have gotten whiplash from how fast she turned around to look at him. "What?!" she screeched, "But-but I'm her student! She—"

"I'm only relaying a message, ma'am," he said professionally. "Miss Pie is allowed to invite as many friends as she wishes. Enjoy your stay at Canterlot, ladies."

Pinkie Pie bounded forward, finding it hard to contain her excitement. She passed Twilight a ways, then turned around to face her two friends. "Ooh, I know! I'll invite you two! I mean, you're already here!"

Applejack set a hoof around Twilight's neck and slowly led her on. She was still watching the guard, like it was somehow his fault the princess didn't want her. The purple mare's reaction caused Applejack to chuckle before she turned her attention to the other pony. "I appreciate it much, Pink, but it doesn't sound too crucial that I'm there, and honestly, I ain't much in a reading-dusty-books kinda mood right now. Why don't you two go on without me, 'n I'll see if I can't find Rarity in this here jungle?"

"Yeah... Yeah, sounds good," Twilight responded, apparently just now getting over her shock. "I think I remember Rarity telling me where her shop is. It should be across from a small diner. We'll meet up there in an hour, okay?"

"I'll be there," promised Applejack. She tipped her hat in farewell, then trotted off in the opposite direction of the castle.

"C'mon, Twilight!" Pinkie started hopping away. "Let's go see what the princess ignored you and wanted me for!"

The pink pony could hear hoofsteps thundering on the pavement behind her. There was a loud, angry growl too. Twilight must have been upset about something.

There was a certain fascination one could have with Canterlot post dusk. The ambient street lights, all of the late night parties going on (none of those snooty "_may I have another hors d'oeuvre, please?_" kind of parties that this place had during the day), the romantics taking a stroll with their fillyfriends. It all combined to create an inspirational setting. The fact that the place stayed so active during the evening was interesting enough. Ponyville wasn't really like that. This was like Ponyville squared.

Of course, they did have a purpose for coming here. As much fun as sight-seeing sounded, they needed to get to the Canterlot archives. The Royal Chamber would be a quick get-in, get-out deal so they could spend the maximum amount of time searching for information.

The guards had been instructed to let Twilight or any of her friends into Canterlot Castle without a hassle. They removed the spears they used to block the front door to allow Pinkie Pie and her companion access. Bouncing and humming, Pinkie was thrilled to be back inside of the royal palace once more. It was so... royal-y. Practically everything was made from marble; the floors, the walls, and all the statues shared the trait. She didn't get much time to snoop around on her own before being found by a passing henchpony. "Ah, Miss Pie. The princess is expecting you."

He ushered the two of them down a hallway. Before they got far, Twilight mumbled, "So we've heard..."

Down that hallway, up some stairs, and down another hallway was something Pinkie had come to expect from this place: a set of giant doors. They had some intricate design carved into them, possibly supposed to be the sun and moon rising. It wasn't possible to get a good look at it before the unicorn stallion leading them opened the doors with magic.

The throne room contained inside was of unbelievable beauty. A silk red carpet, plush on the hooves, was rolled from this side of the room to the complete opposite. Windows, decorated with midnight blue satin curtains, started at neck-length and extended up to the very tall ceiling, giving an unrivaled view of the city of Canterlot in two directions. The carpet led all the way up to the humongous chair at the back of the room, which at the moment was occupied.

Resting on the royal throne in a rather un-royal manner was a deep blue-colored pony. She was taller than any other in the room, even if it was hard to tell with her current position. Her back legs were dangling off the right hoofrest, while she leaned her back against the left one. Grasped in her magic was a small black box that was emitting its backlight on her, noticeable even with the light from the chandeliers above them. Whatever was on the black box's screen was engrossing her; she didn't even turn her head when the doors swung open.

"My princess," the guard said in introduction, "Miss Pie and Miss Sparkle."

"Yes, thank you," the princess replied in a rather distracted tone. "One moment, please."

The guard bowed, then let himself out. Meanwhile, Twilight gasped, which held Pinkie's attention while they waited. "Of course!" she cried, mostly to herself, "It was Princess _Luna!_ There's no way Princess Celestia would ask for someone besides me!"

"Yup!" Pinkie agreed for the sake of dropping the subject.

A few seconds passed consisting of nothing but Princess Luna waving the black box around, madly making a clicking noise with one of the triggers on it. Just as Pinkie decided to take a step towards the window to see what the view was like, the dark pony shouted without warning, "Aha! Scoundrel!"

Finally, she used her magic to gently set the black box on the floor right next to the throne. She leaped from her seat, quickly adjusted the small crown that sat on her head, and beamed at her guests. "We welcome you to Canterlot Castle! Welcome, Pinkie Pie. It is good to see you, Twilight Sparkle."

Out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie saw her friend bow in respect. It was the only thing that made her remember that she should do it, too. She only got halfway down, however, before Luna interjected.

"No, no!" she spoke, waving a hoof dismissively, "This is not a royal meeting. This is a meeting amongst friends! Please, call us simply Luna."

"Okie dokie, Simply Luna!" greeted Pinkie, nearly snorting in laughter at her own joke. "What did'ja wanna talk about?"

Twilight tried chuckling at the terrible joke, but it came out awkwardly. She didn't remember starting out any meeting with a princess with a phrase like that.

Luna was smiling. She must be enjoying the relaxed nature of her friends! Given her position, that probably didn't happen much, Pinkie thought. "We wished to thank you face to face for your assistance, Pinkie Pie."

"_Pinkie Pie?_" Twilight chimed in, incredulous. "What did she do?"

The princess glanced briefly backwards to the item on the floor. "Our box of entertainment confronted us with a puzzle most challenging, so we implored advice on what is known as 'the message boards.' Our friend Pinkie Pie was swift in guidance! With her aid, we conquered the puzzle and furthered our quest!"

"Oooh, that!" Pinkie giggled. "That puzzle's easy cheesy once you remember what idols go where!"

The brighter shade of unicorn felt forced to fall back a few steps. Her mouth was gaping. "Is this... even happening right now?"

"Truly, it is!" the royalty responded with glee, not picking up on Twilight's disbelieving tone. The grin on her face continued getting wider as the conversation went on. "To show our appreciation, we have decided to give you anything in Equestria that you wish!" She quickly went on, "Of course, only that which is in our power. Our sister has even granted permission for you to use our entire castle for one of your parties! Does this not sound amusing?!"

Pinkie felt touched inside. The prospect of a few hundred square hooves of all party was a dream she never thought could come true. Reality was always there waiting, though. They had a lot of work to do still. And besides that, it crossed her mind that it might be troublesome to gather all of her friends for it. A party spanning all of Canterlot wouldn't be worth it if she couldn't keep her five friends happy. "Aww, that's really sweet of you, Luna! But I'm afraid everything I'm missing right now is out of reach even for your royal hooves."

Luna's mood fell considerably. She stared at the bittersweet smile on Pinkie's face, then to Twilight, then back at Pinkie. "Oh, b-but... surely there is something we could help you with?"

Twilight moved forward to take point in the conversation. "Actually, Princess—err, Luna, we just need to visit the Canterlot archives for awhile."

"Oh." She still seemed disappointed. Pinkie felt bad, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Twilight did speak the truth. Luna seemed to just now remember she was a princess and tried to regain some composure. "Oh, but of course. May we ask what you are researching?"

By now, Pinkie was ready to preach it loud and proud. Not even the princess of the night's opinion of her would change her mind. "We're looking for the reverstone! It's supposed to let ponies travel back in time. Any information we could dig up on it would be super useful."

"The reverstone... ?" Luna echoed.

Twilight coughed to politely clear her throat. "Pinkie's speaking a _little_ brashly, Princess. We don't even know if it's real or not, so if you haven't heard of it, don't be—"

"Oh, no," Luna cut in. She was no longer sad; she was far too intrigued for that. "Believe us, Twilight Sparkle, we have heard of this."

Twilight blinked. Once. For the next thirty seconds. "You _what,_" she eventually spoke.

Pinkie's grin was nearly blinding. It only continued to grow as the princess went on. "It is an ancient relic indeed. One shrouded in much mystery. We are very curious how you have come to know of its existence."

Twilight hung her head and sighed. Pinkie Pie was already bouncing around her in a circle singing, "I told you! I told you!" Working up some effort, the unicorn spoke over her eccentric friend. "You wouldn't believe us."

The answer seemed to be disregarded. Luna began walking toward the ponies, her strut an elegant one. "Come," she spoke. "You won't find any information about it in the archives. Follow us to Celestia's and our private library."

-**TRS**-

Out on the streets, things weren't going as successfully. Applejack was sure half of her allotted time had passed by already, and she still hadn't found her unicorn friend or the fashion shop she was supposed to be running. That diner that was supposed to be across the street was sounding pretty good, too. All the pretty lights, while nothing compared to the beauty of a night at Sweet Apple Acres, at least kept her attention on something that wasn't her growling stomach.

Finally, after taking two more random turns at crossways, she glanced across the street and saw a quaint restaurant. Even working towards the middle of the night, all of the lights were on. She was going to get some dinner tonight after all. But first, she traced her gaze back to the side of the street that she was on. Like clockwork, it was sitting there waiting for her; the name might not fit the structure anymore, but she only knew of one pony who ran a store called Carousel Boutique.

Applejack galloped forward, racing for every second she might be able to catch the pony inside. It was totally dark inside, which was a bad sign. The cowpony couldn't even take a stab at where the other might be living these days.

As she got closer, she discovered there was a single pony standing in front of the shop. Having already been shrouded in the darkness of no immediately local lights, it seemed a bit excessive that the pony was wearing some kind of cloak, too. The cloth was more like a shaggy, brown rag than anything else once AJ got a look at it. This one had come to a good spot to find new threads, at least.

She ignored the mystery character for the time being to peer inside the shop's window. Hard as she tried, nothing could be found in there. It was too dark for that. As she pulled away from the glass, a bright white sign with red lettering caught her eye. It was taped to the inside of the window next to the one she had stopped at. "For sale," it read.

_For sale?!_

"The hay—" Applejack spun around. The covered pony was still sitting on the sidewalk waiting for her. "Pardon, ma'am. You know what happened to this here store?"

There was a slight delay before she got a response. "I'll tell you what happened. The owner was a _dreaming fool_, that's what happened."

Applejack narrowed her gaze at the shadowy face of her conversational partner. The sound of that voice... No, that couldn't be mistaken, even here in Snootyville. The farmer suspiciously raised her eyebrow. "... Rarity?"

-**TRS**-

"Our favorite is the sniper rifle, Pinkie Pie! The sound it creates is most satisfying!"

Luna led on as Twilight and the never-ending bundle of energy next to her followed. They were being taken to the depths of the castle, below where most any guest was allowed to visit. Even Twilight herself had only been down here several times at most. As they traveled downward, the sights got less spectacular. The rooms and hallways, many in number as they were, looked like they could be found in any home in Canterlot. Everything was less regal and stiff, and more homely. They had already passed by Luna's room—at least, Twilight guessed it was, considering the countless posters and miniature cut-outs of fictional characters taped to the outside door. They were just now walking down the stairway that would lead to the private library, and Twilight was getting irritated with the discussion's direction.

"Umm, Luna... would it be possible to stay on topic?"

The princess looked back at the pleading unicorn with a confused expression. "Is the topic not of fictitious weapons of domination?"

Twilight's left eye twitched. Unfortunately, she was talking to royalty, not Pinkie Pie; raising her voice here meant a month in the dungeon. She restrained herself and replied, "Actually, I was thinking more about the reverstone. What else do you know about it?"

Celestia's sister cleared her throat. "Ah, yes. We apologize, Twilight Sparkle. We do not get to often speak about our... hobbies."

They had finally traversed the ground necessary to reach the library. The room was of an incredible size; twelve extra large wooden bookshelves sat an exact distance away from each other, each with enough space for a comfortable couch to read on and plenty of room extra. The walls were painted a heavy teal, which complimented the old-feeling maroon rug that blanketed the floor. There was no decorations of any kind, save for the everyday lighting fixtures attached to the ceiling. Twilight needed to hope it was organized somehow, as it could take _months_ to go through all of these. Not that she would necessarily mind that herself, but her friends might.

Luna trotted forward at a slow pace, allowing herself some time to respond to Twilight's inquiry. "Regrettably, we know little about the reverstone itself. There are known educated guesses of its origin, along with folktales. There are several myths of adventurers going in search of this item. None of them ever returned. They could have gotten killed in their journey, or perhaps they did find it, then never returned to the present time. However..." She stopped walking, then turned around to face the other two. Her tone returned to curiosity. "These are all things that happened during our time. Noble as you are, all of you are far too young to remember such things. How did you say you've heard of it?"

Twilight was going to let Pinkie field this one. Looking over at her, she found the pink mare rubbing her hoof into the dusty carpet. She looked more nervous than usual. "I think, when I was just a baby Pie, my mama had this book that she would read to me. It had all sorts of adventures in it. It was so long ago, I barely remember it at all."

Her friend was now watching her with growing intrigue. Pinkie had mentioned something about reading about it way back when, but she sounded so unsure of herself at the time. Admittedly, Twilight thought, this part of the story still wouldn't have made a believer out of her. Still, it seemed like a notable part of their adventure.

Pinkie continued, "The only one that really stuck to me was a story about time traveling. It just seemed so cool!" She moved her attention from shying away over to Twilight. "Then, when I was writing that story for Dashie, some parts of that book started coming back to me. I wish I could remember more of it... like if the adventurers ever found the reverstone, and where."

"Most fantastic of tales!" Luna cried, now smiling. "Come, Pinkie Pie. We have little, but we can share what we know."

The princess started off again, trotting towards the far right wall. Twilight didn't hide her smile as Pinkie darted after her. So there was just a touch of personal curiosity hidden within the objectives for this quest. Not that there was anything wrong with that. As Twilight took up the rear of the trio, she thought of the fact that rather than Pinkie's strange mind, they were on this journey because of a children's bedtime book. And this whole thing still made no sense to her.

"There is a race intertwined with the reverstone," Luna lectured. "You won't be able to go far looking for one without finding the other."

"Do you know what the race is?" spoke Twilight, catching up.

"Yes, though they have been long lost to this day. Translated now, their name would be 'werebears.'"

Twilight suddenly found herself glued to the spot she was on. Pinkie gave a high-pitched gasp, which was what Luna noticed. Turning around, she hastily asked, "What is wrong?"

The two friends shared an uncomfortable look at each other. "Luna..." Twilight began.

"... They aren't really as lost as you might think."

The two recalled their run-in with the werebears. Pinkie kept quiet on anything about Sam for the moment, which was fine; they had plenty to share in the meantime, especially what Applejack said about capturing ponies. By the time they had finished, Luna was as stunned as Twilight had been a moment ago.

"What..." she started, but seemed to change her mind, "We are... not sure how to react. We had taken no notice of this at all. Perhaps our sister should be notified..."

Twilight couldn't agree more with that. Princess Celestia would see to it that what happened to Applejack would happen to no other pony. However, for the moment, this princess would still suffice. "Do you know anything about those beasts, Princess? Where did they come from? And what are they weak to?!"

Luna closed her eyes, then sat where she stood on the floor. It looked like there might have been cobwebs at the place in her brain where she stored this information. It likely didn't get accessed much. "Long ago, during our time, they lived in what is now the Everfree Forest, just as many other creatures did. However, soon after our sister began her rule, they threatened to create war with all of Equestria for their own purposes. That war, however, never came to pass. The werebears vanished. Some say they found a home in Zebrica and have stayed there ever since. Before the story you shared with us just now, we believed they had simply gone extinct." She sighed in fatigue, no doubt brought on by the revelation. "Regarding weaknesses, we know little, Twilight Sparkle. Equestria never had need to fight them, after all."

"Before now," Twilight corrected. "They must be planning to return after all this time! Why else would they be so close to Ponyville now?"

"So..." Pinkie cut in. She used her hooves to draw lines in air; the way she was staring at them in wonder, Twilight somehow had little doubt that Pinkie could actually see the invisible marks. "If the werebears are real, and they lived in Zebrica, wouldn't the reverstone... ?"

"Pinkie, the werebears are plotting to take down the princesses!" she growled at her companion, "We don't have time to look for a mystical rock that _still_ might not be real!"

The pink mare didn't seem upset at all that Twilight was yelling at her. (Did she even notice?) "We don't know that for sure. And why waste time when we know where to look? If it took those big 'ol bears a thousand years to move from Zebrica to Ponyville, who knows how long it could take them to attack?"

Twilight broke away from Pinkie, pleading instead to the princess for assistance. "Do you see what I put up with every day?" she asked.

Despite her mood, Luna offered a polite, royalty-like chortle. Just as Twilight was about to gloat that the princess of a nation was in her corner, Luna spoke up. "Actually, we believe Pinkie Pie has a very dangerous, but excellent idea."

She _couldn't_ be serious. What had that black box _done_ to their princess of the night?

Her jubilant smile dropped. As much as she liked to joke around, this princess could be as to-the-point as the one Twilight knew... which meant that hadn't been some kind of disturbing joke. "You shouldn't put your life on hold for something that hasn't happened yet, Twilight Sparkle. However, there is a perhaps more important reason. We do not know what werebear activity is like in Zebrica. We are on fine terms with them, but share little news with each other. Your visit to their land could reveal the werebears' plans, should they have any." She winked at Pinkie. "Naturally, there is little reason not to search for the reverstone while you are there."

The inclusion of a smile during the last part dropped immediately as Luna continued, "That is not to say that the dangers of a journey there can be overstated. You could perhaps trigger a reaction from them by your mere presence. Should it come to that, our kingdom will be heavily prepared. Make sure you and your companions, too, are prepared."

"We understand," Twilight agreed. A part of her unconscious mind didn't want to budge until she heard Celestia's opinion, but waiting that long—until morning—might not be an option.

"Great!" Pinkie shouted. "Gotta go, see ya!"

"Wait!" Half surprised she had managed it, Twilight actually got Pinkie to stop on the first stair leading upwards. How did she run that fast? The unicorn gestured toward Pinkie's saddlebag, then said, "Don't you think we should show that book to the princess?"

"Oh, sure." Pinkie made her way back to the group of two at a much more natural pace. While walking, she ducked her head into one of the brown bags over her side and eventually came out with the book that had the blank diamond on its cover.

"What is—oh."

That was an odd reaction for someone to have towards a book they hadn't even opened yet. It seemed that out of politeness and little else, Luna grabbed hold of Pinkie's book with her magic and levitated it over. As she flipped through a few pages, her expression was unreadable, and eventually, Twilight got too curious. "What is it, Princess?"

"It's just..." Luna took a break from Pinkie's book to glance behind her. A bookshelf was there, and before long, one of the items contained inside of it glowed the same dark blue as the other one had. It rushed its way over to the group by itself, where Luna showed it off. The cover: a large diamond. "We brought you here to show you this book, but it appears you already have a copy. This is all that we have anymore regarding the werebears."

Pinkie looked back and forth between the two copies. The one from the library seemed in considerably better condition than Sam's, though that made sense. "But what's in it? We couldn't read a thing."

"Sadly, no pony can," Luna answered, watching her personal copy floating in the air. "It is a language familiar only to werebears. We have tried many times to hire those that could translate it, but none were able to. Only one set of characters kept appearing. We have heard they translate to the word 'reverse.' Unfortunately, aside from the correlation to the reverstone, that means little to us."

"Reverse, huh?" Twilight pondered.

"That's messed up backwards!" Pinkie grabbed hold of her own copy of the werebear reading material and set it back into her bag, giggling at her own joke all the while. "Come on, Twilight! We got a lot to tell Applejack!"

"A train should be arriving soon," informed Luna, relaxing a bit from all of the dark explanations she'd been giving tonight. "We shall pass along that they are to escort you to Zebrica."

Pinkie shrieked, "That's perfect! We'll get there in no time! Thanks a bajillion times for all the help."

"Of course, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie was practically gone before Luna had even finished speaking, leaving naught but a trail of pink wind behind her for a moment. The other, however, wasn't as ambitious. She knew she didn't hide her concern well as she turned to look at the last pony in the room besides herself. "Princess Luna? Before we go, there's one more thing I want to ask."

"Anything at all," was Luna's response. It was difficult to tell, but it almost looked like the princess was sad her company was leaving. It was probably just Twilight's imagination, though.

She had a flashback to her time in that werebear cave. Those books she had seen. Specifically, one of the first ones she had spotted. "Do werebears have any sort of history with... lying?"

Any happiness Luna was exuding stopped immediately. By now, it was a safe guess that she was no fan of these creatures. "You are probably familiar with their physical might, Twilight Sparkle. Rest assured, they are bred masters of deception far before they get so strong. It was once said to never trust a breathing werebear. What makes you ask that question?"

The image in the librarian's mind changed. It was now of a certain giant, four-legged creature covered entirely by a black coat. Even the voice that the creature had sounded crystal clear in her head. With effort, she huffed a sigh. "No reason, really. Thank you, again, so much for all of the help." Whether she wanted it or not, Luna was getting a respectful bow. "Pinkie and I will let ourselves out."

Twilight looked up to see a smile and a nod from the princess. She turned and galloped away, forced to pray that Pinkie wasn't causing too bad of a mess wherever she had wandered off to. Once she made it up a dozen or so steps, she heard hooves rushing across the floor downstairs.

"Inform us of your return!" Luna called up to her, "We shall purchase many party hats!"

"I'll let Pinkie know she has a party to plan," she replied.

Twilight found it hard not to grin all the way to the exit after that.


	10. Their Diamonds

Pinkie Pie stared long and hard at the sign. It was just a sign, but it said so much. It was a bad sign too, that was the worst part. She watched it a little longer before speaking to the pony beside her. "What does it mean, Twilight?"

Her purple friend gave a contemplative _hmm_. "It means that Rarity's been trying to hide something from us."

Pinkie had waited patiently outside the doors to the castle for Twilight. She could be so slow sometimes, that pony. After regrouping, they had raced to find Rarity's shop in Canterlot. They did, only to find nothing but that evil sign that told everyone the large building was for sale. It looked like such a nice place, too. At least, from the outside.

Looking around for some sign of life, Pinkie's gaze found a cowpony hat she'd recognize anywhere. It was sitting on top of a pony's head inside the diner across the street. She was sitting at a booth near the window, talking to a white unicorn with a purple ma—wait.

Twilight had apparently followed the line of sight. "Come on!" she ordered, rushing across the dead quiet street.

The bell above the door dinged. The eat-and-go shop was... compact. And not particularly modern. It had cheesy lighting fixtures and decorations everywhere. There were far too many tables and booths spread around too, making one feel a little squished. Only two of them were occupied at the moment, and Twilight didn't waste time in leading on towards one of them. Pinkie, however, gave a friendly wave to the two colts that were in the opposite direction before chasing after her friend.

"Ain't it about time," said Applejack with a grin, watching the two mares approach.

That quote got the other pony to turn her head around. It was most certainly Rarity—no one else could look as fabulous as her while wearing a dirty rug over their body. Her pretty purple mane was mostly hanging outside of the coat, letting her show off that fun-looking strip of bouncy hair that she always kept next to her face.

The fashionista hopped out of her seat on the booth and held out her hooves; Twilight didn't leave her hanging. The two unicorns crashed into a hug, the momentum from the collision even spinning them around once. Even when they spoke, they didn't take their hooves off of each other yet.

"Rarity, it's been so long! I missed you! I'm so sorry I never came to visit."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, dear." She elegantly cleared her throat, like she was buying a little more time. "All things considered, I'm glad you didn't."

"Your shop..." Twilight looked Rarity over. No doubt she was eyeing that beat-up paper bag that Pinkie thought was supposed to be a cloak. "Your _clothes._ What happened?"

Pinkie wasn't going to take this. Sure, it's great to see that Rarity's not dead, but there _are _other things on the proverbial table here. "Guys!" she shouted. Her loud, sudden voice was pretty effective at making the other three jump in surprise. Attention was received, though, and that's all she wanted. "Later! We have a train to catch!"

"A train?" Rarity parroted.

Twilight ignored the other unicorn for a moment, gazing past her to look at Pinkie Pie. "Relax, Pinkie. I doubt the train is there yet. We might as well at least get something to eat while we're here."

"Good," AJ fitted in, "I might have told the nice waitress you two would be payin'."

The three standing ponies took their seats at the same table. While Pinkie and Twilight waited for their order of hay fries, they along with Applejack recounted their entire adventure log so far. The party pony was glad when Twilight only glazed over the part with Rainbow Dash. That whole thing had been kind of a bummer. While eating their meal, the two of them also explained what Princess Luna had told them about. Everything right up to that reverse thing, and the destination of their train ride.

"Rarity," Twilight started, looking across the table at her target. "I'd understand if you say no, but would you be willing to accompany us?"

The pony's brilliant blue eyes fell down to the tiled flooring. There was even a sigh in there too, though she tried concealing it. "Not like there's much left for me in Canterlot. I trust Sweetie Belle is doing all right?"

"She's fine," responded the librarian. She was wearing a frown when she said it, though. "But that's another thing. The train will be going straight past Ponyville. Applejack, if you want to be with your family, none of us would blame you."

"I would," Pinkie spoke up with honesty.

That earned her a lavender knee to her ribs. It hurt, too. For a bookworm, Twilight could kick. "Pinkie!"

Pinkie rubbed the now-sore spot on her side. "Ow. What? We're _days _away from making history, Twilight! And then we could re-make history again and again! Who would back out now?"

Twilight was about to cast her signature spell that required no magic: her _boring lecture_ technique. The accused pony couldn't be more grateful when Applejack spoke up ahead of her. "Simmer down, Twi. I would give anything to see my folks again. And if we were just huntin' for some voodoo rock, I might take you up on that offer." She huffed a sigh, and this one didn't bother to hide it. "But ya'll are makin' it sound like this became a mission from the princess. Kinda tough turning that down. If it's really so dangerous, seein' my family when I know they're safe ain't worth abandoning my friends."

"Then it's settled!" declared Pinkie, leaping from her seat. "Let's hit the tracks!"

"Well, it has been a little while," Twilight agreed. "Princess Luna's instructions have probably reached the station by now. We can at least go see if the train is in yet." She scooted out of the seat behind Pinkie Pie, simultaneously using her magic to grab hold of the box containing her remaining hay fries. "Rarity, promise that you'll tell us what's been going on?"

"Of course," she answered, carrying a respectful smile. "Later, when we can find the time."

Now that Pinkie got to look at it, that dusty brown coat wasn't _too_ bad. Still not the fashion designer's best, though.

-**TRS**-

Twilight rolled over in her cozy cot. There was an electronic clock next to Applejack's bed; the numbers 4:00 were all lit up in green lights. The exhausted mare groaned.

Why couldn't she stay asleep? Her previous day had consisted of very little besides a never ending climb uphill. She should have fallen asleep as soon as she hit the pillow, if not before it. Her tummy had been moderately filled by their late night snack, and there weren't any problems getting on the train that would have raised her anxiety levels. She just couldn't sleep.

She attempted to roll over again to find a better position. Instead, she got something different. In her half-aware state of mind, she brushed her lips over the area on the pillow her hair had just occupied; the result of that was a mouthful of sand. Instantly, she sat up and attempted to spit the particles out, all while cursing at the voyage through Haymaker Desert. She hadn't exactly felt clean ever since that sand tornado incident, and this just went on to prove why. Once her mouth was freed from terrible-tasting grains, she arrived at the realization that she was now even more awake than before. Trying to make a quiet enough groan so as to not wake her friends, Twilight fell back down on her pillow and stared listlessly at the ceiling.

"Would you like me to brush your mane?"

That earned a small gasp from the unicorn. Her brain quickly placed the voice—it had come from the bed just ahead of her. "You startled me. You can't get any rest either, huh?"

Rarity's tone was blissful in its response. "Sleep is a _wonderful_ luxury not all of us can afford."

"In that case, I could probably use a decent preening job," she said with a giggle. "We'll need to be quiet. I don't want to wake the other two."

"Oh, please." Rarity had already trotted up beside Twilight's bed, awaiting her to exit it. A faint blue glow next to the designer's head, visible even though the darkness of night, showed she had unsheathed her brush. "Those two could sleep through a stampeding herd of buffalo with cymbals tied to their legs."

Twilight couldn't help it. She needed to restrain herself from laughing, lest she wake everyone on the train up. "You might be right."

The brushing commenced as soon as Twilight moved herself from her place of rest to the floor. Plopping down on the bottom of a speeding train hours before sunrise was something Twilight could say she didn't expect to experience in this journey. As much as her "team leader" self tried denying it, she was undoubtedly happy that she wasn't alone this night. Misery and restless mornings love company, don't they?

"Goodness, Twilight. It looks like you stuck your head in a sand dune and left it there for days."

She was pretty impressed Rarity could make out such detail like that, even in so little light. There wasn't much more than the moon, really. That was always a knack of the pony's, though. "You'd probably be surprised. But, Rarity... Just between us, what really happened in Canterlot?"

"Like I was telling Applejack," she started. No emotion seemed more prominent than any other. "I ran before I had mastered walking. She didn't get that analogy right away, but my point is that it's true."

"Was running a store in Canterlot that much different than Ponyville?"

"Oh, by miles, darling." Twilight cringed when Rarity found a snag in her mane, and grimaced when it took her three tries to untangle it. "As I told you before leaving for Canterlot, Hoity Toity allowed me to use that place you saw for my shop. Rather unfortunately, or perhaps conveniently, he began getting difficult to contact after the first week or so. I found myself completely off guard by half the requests I was getting. Apparently, there's some bi-annual party in Canterlot that requires a specific outfit. I knew of no such thing, and felt like a fool as the customer needed to explain it to me. That is, of course, one city that you do not want to show weakness in."

"But that was just one time," Twi rebutted, "You would have been fine the next time!"

Rarity grinned at those words. "I do appreciate that. Sadly for me, I didn't have very many 'next times.' By the middle of the second week, I could hardly get anypony through the door. At the start of the third, Hoity Toity told me that if I couldn't get my act together in a week, he would need to find a new client. And, well... here we are. My grand debut in Canterlot is officially an unspectacular smoldering pile of ash."

Twilight stared at the floor. Her emotions were incredibly mixed at the moment. She felt terrible for Rarity, but on the other hoof, her mane felt _incredible._ Her sadness ended up leaking through more than the other, however. "If I may say so, I think you're taking the whole thing really well, Rarity. If something like that ever happened to me, I'd be a wreck."

"Well, I've certainly learned things from the experience. Both about the business and myself. I still have my health, my sister and friends, and my _gorgeous_ looks. I shall simply return to Carousal Boutique in Ponyville, pay off a few debts I've accumulated, and start again with a clean sheet."

Those words surrounded Twilight's heart with a bubbly feeling. When this was all over, she would be returning to Ponyville with friends she hadn't left it with. They would find out what Fluttershy was doing as soon as they reached Zebrica, and Rainbow Dash... well, that would need to work itself out. But for the current moment, she was surrounded by three irreplaceable friends. Maybe, just _maybe_, Pinkie would throw another party. Just for the group of them. Like she used to. Twilight missed those. She had a feeling all of her friends did.

She was somewhat surprised when Rarity continued on. "There is one what-if about it that will hang over my head for awhile."

"What is it?"

Rarity paused in her combing of Twilight's mane. She had gotten the worst of the sand out already, but the mare pretty shamelessly enjoyed the feel of the bristles. "Twilight, please understand I was only doing what I thought was best. With that said, it's about my lack of communication with you over the past month. I have a reason for it. Whether it's a good reason or not... I suppose that much isn't relevant at this point."

"But what is it?" she repeated. "Pinkie and I would have loved to know what was going on before now."

"Sweetie Belle."

Twilight blinked in surprise. If only the darkness wasn't hiding Rarity's expression. "Your sister?"

The white horned pony gave herself a seat next to the purple one. From what Twilight could tell, Rarity wasn't attempting to make eye contact with her. "I wish you had been there when Sweetie found out I had gotten a chance to expand to Canterlot. If she was worried about my moving away, she sure didn't show it. She was _thrilled_ for me that my career was going in such a positive direction. Dare I say she was happier about it than I was."

The other chuckled. "I think she looks up to you more than she tries to make it look like. But I still don't understand what the connection here is."

"If you—" she hesitated, but regained her confidence. "If you were to receive a letter from me, wouldn't you have immediately shown it to my sister?"

"I..."

Twilight's answer never got farther than that. To be honest with herself, she probably would have. If this conversation was going where she thought it was, she could see why that would be a bad thing.

"If I had sent you a letter explaining how upside-down things were going for me, Sweetie would have been devastated. With even the smallest bit of bad news, she could have panicked to her Crusader friends, and heaven knows what kind of proportions they would have blown it up to." She paused a moment to let Twilight absorb that. "The only thing I wonder is if words from my friends would have changed the outcome. Perhaps I was doing something plain wrong out of nerves, or maybe seeing you girls would have been enough to spark the inspiration for a brand new design. I suppose we'll never know now, but still."

"So then..." prodded Twilight.

Rarity giggled at the cue. "Not to worry, Twilight. I understand now things could have been handled better. When we get back to Ponyville from all of this, I shall tell my sister everything and summarize the events to the princess."

"Good!" she grinned, radiating with what she hoped to be contagious happiness, "She'll be glad to hear from you!"

With that out of the way, Rarity felt safe returning to the topic that had started it all. "That should just about do it," she stated with a few last brush strokes. "Now maybe you won't be taking half of your journey along with you in your hair."

"I appreciate the service, Rarity. I'm sure Pinkie's mane isn't much better off than mine was."

Rarity gave an uneven _hmph_. Twilight wasn't sure what it was for at first, but it was apparently out of genuine concern. "I noticed that Pinkie's hairstyle is less... bouncy than it used to be. Has she been doing okay?"

The observation piqued at Twilight's curiosity. The pink pony's mane was still curly, and her tail was still poofy, but looking back, Pinkie's hair did seem on the not-as-bouncy side. Then again, Pinkie herself wasn't as bouncy as she was just a month or two ago. Twilight found her answer in that thought. "She didn't have an easy time dealing with everypony leaving Ponyville. It eventually led to the Cakes asking me to come over because Pinkie had holed herself up in her room for days. That was right before this little quest began. But, in general, she's been a lot happier since we found Applejack." A disturbingly loud snore from Pinkie's direction washed out Twilight's words for a moment. It was cute, if not maybe a little gross. "And I'm sure she'll almost be back to normal now that you're here. I just hope we can recruit Fluttershy and Rainbow."

"Well, in any case, her mane doesn't seem to be bothering _her_, at least." Twilight giggled as Pinkie unconsciously supported Rarity's statement with a second clap of snoring. After it passed, she went on, "We have a long train ride ahead of us. I'll be able to fix her in the morning. In the meantime, you should dust off your pillow and try getting back to sleep."

The suggestion worked, or at least to some degree. Twilight couldn't stifle a yawn before it escaped. "Yeah, I'll try. Good night, Rarity."

Rarity didn't move yet. She must have just been watching her friend shake the sand off of her pillow cover, forgoing magic and doing it the old fashion way. After a few successful punches to the material, Twilight shoved it back into her cot which she proceeded to jump into. Only then did she hear a meek, "Sweet dreams, hun."


	11. Choking On an Apple Core

If nothing else so far, Rarity had been correct about one thing: this was indeed going to be a long haul.

Post sunrise the next morning, the conductor of the train broke the news that they wouldn't even be arriving that day at all. Zebrica was in the far corner of the landmass known as Equestria, and even a speedy train such as this couldn't cross the distance that quickly. It would take time, a finite substance that Pinkie didn't want to waste. Her frustration was mildly mitigated with a promise of a hair styling by the local fashion diva.

Some stories were told to pass the time, since other means of distractions weren't easy to find. As the train drove through a scenic forest at sundown, thoughts turned to Fluttershy, a pony no pony had seen for nearly two months—she had been the first to leave Ponyville. She was supposed to be in Zebrica treating animals there. Whether she was still there or not, the group of four were soon going to find out.

At the dawn of the new day, the vehicle's driver shared that they would manage to arrive there this time. It might take until late afternoon, but it would be totally worth it. "_The reverstone,_" Pinkie thought to herself whilst smiling at her reflection in the compartment's window.

From what they were able to see before blowing past it, Zebrica was an amazing place. They saw homes; cottages, tents, even an outhouse or two, all made lovingly with natural building materials. They caught glimpses of zebras of all sizes staring in awe back at them as the train barreled on its predetermined path down the track. Then, it began to slow.

They were rolling up to Zebrica's train station. Or at least what was supposed to pass for it.

A roof made from straw covered the ponies overhead as soon as they stepped outside the door. It was supposed to shade passengers from Zebrica's warm sun, but since it was already so close to sundown, it wasn't very effective this time. Besides that, there wasn't even a building to follow suit; their first hoofsteps were on one of the few patches of grass that has managed to survive out here.

Looking around, they found themselves in a town that, in its own way, resembled Ponyville. It wasn't bustling by any means, rather it seemed like a tight-knit community. More homes and business stands were littered around the area before them, all of them masterfully crafted using material ponies had found mostly obsolete: sticks, unused fabric, even things like mud and stones.

They began their trek forward. None of them truly knew where they were going, but something was bound to pop up. Resident citizens watched the ensemble of colorful equines strolling by them not in hostility, but in wonder.

Rarity had purposely left her coat in the train, feeling as though she needed no further reminders of her stint in Canterlot. Without anything hiding it, her entire body shivered as she stared at a notably unclean-looking house. "Ick..." she whispered to the group, "Zebras live in those things? It's so... old world."

Holding her head up high, her friend wasn't afraid of arguing the point. "That's just you," Applejack stated. "I'm right envious of these folks."

"Envious?" she echoed in shock, "Applejack, even your farm is _slightly_ more sterile than that ugly thing."

The cowpony put on a grin. Maybe she was impressed by Rarity's very first compliment about her farm? "I'm envious because these here zebras _could_ put up normal buildin's if they wanted to. They just don't. They're just as happy as you 'n I without all the junk we have. Friends and family. Do ya need more than that?"

"That was well said, Applejack!" Twilight Sparkle praised.

They didn't make it all that far from the train before they made their first acquaintance in Zebrica. A zebra, tall in structure, approached them calmly from ahead. Where Zecora had a circle thing on her flank, this one had a set of triangles stacked on top of each other, like some ancient symbol; his stripes were also more traditional than Zecora's. A single gold necklace was wrapped around his long neck. Contained inside his voice was a welcoming, almost amused tone. "Ah, more ponies still. Should we expect even more after you?"

Pinkie's confusion peaked. "More ponies still? Who got here before us?"

"There is one who flew in just last night," he answered happily. "But I do not mean to be rude. My name is Muzzo, and I lead this tribe. What takes you all to this land?"

Twilight stepped up. It was like she knew Pinkie was going to shout, "The reverstone!" because she spoke up before it happened. "We're actually here for several reasons, but one of them is a quest for our princess, Luna. She asked us to come here in search for any activity by creatures known as werebears. Have your people been safe, Muzzo?"

Muzzo's head tilted on its side, his pin-sharp black and white mane following it. From that angle, Pinkie could see a little scar underneath his chin. It was probably just a birth mark... or maybe the peaceful land hasn't been so peaceful lately. "In better or worse for your search, I am happy to report that werebears have not attacked us for generations. But what an odd request. I was not even aware ponies knew of them."

"So werebears are here!" Pinkie shouted in glee, "Does that mean the rever—"

Twilight muffled the rest of that sentence by keeping Pinkie's mouth shut with magic. Rather rudely, she continued on like it hadn't even happened. "We were instructed to find the werebears' home, too. We have reason to fear that the safety of Equestria might be in jeopardy by them."

The tribe leader was no longer smiling. He was looking each of the ponies over in turn. Pinkie couldn't help noticing that he glanced at AJ twice. "You are a brave group. I trust there's no need to explain to you the dangers of doing such a thing."

"No, sir. We're as prepared as we ever will be."

Muzzo nodded, then started trotting off westward. "Normally, I would not do this. However, an order from a princess is just that. Follow me, and I will show you where it is I believe they stay."

"'Prepared'?" Applejack questioned, moving along with the group. "Twi, we ain't got nothing that we didn't have the last time we fought these darn things."

Rarity gasped, "I resent that! Thanks to me, you have far more sophistication to your team!"

"Ooh," AJ muttered, rolling her eyes. "That'll git them werebears right where it counts."

A rescue from the feud came from an unlikely source. Muzzo looked back at the group, specifically at the purple one. "Twi?" he repeated, "Are you by chance Twilight Sparkle?"

"Y-yes," stammered Twilight, not very confident in what her answer would bring.

It wasn't nearly as negative as she had feared, however. In fact, it was the opposite—Muzzo started laughing. "Ah, yes, this makes much more sense now. You are all Fluttershy's friends."

That statement garnered a predictable response. Pinkie gave a surprised gasp, but Rarity was the one who spoke. She had a long friendship with Fluttershy, so she deserved to be the one to ask the question. "Fluttershy... She is still here? It's been so long since we've heard from her, we were worried she had left to go somewhere else."

"Not at all," Muzzo replied with that grin back on his face. "She has been invaluable since the day she arrived here. Shall we take a detour to go see her before your quest?"

It was an unanimous vote. Those werebears weren't going anywhere, anyway.

The trip would force the team to backtrack; Muzzo had turned around and started making his way to a certain house in the eastern direction. The group of four were happy enough to follow him, asking along the way how the pegasus had been doing. With a smile, he responded that they should see for themselves. In front of them was a hut lacking a door, letting them peer inside prematurely. While small, this building seemed to be assembled more neatly than others they had seen. The walls were almost completely even, while a flat carpet of dirt created easy access.

Of course, what was contained inside was more important than anything else. There were four beds—naturally crafted by stacks of hay—placed evenly away from each other, all of them containing a patient. Two zebras slept on the beds to the left; a noisy mongoose was in the far bed on the right; and a family of gerbils laid in the final one. Standing by the last bed was a yellow-coated pegasus, her head shrouded from view by the large curl in her pink mane. Her wings kept tucked to her side, she seemed to be enjoying a conversation with the small mammals.

Of a particularly startling note was that she didn't stand alone. Hovering above the mongoose with a hypodermic needle in her hooves was a second pegasus. She was no doubt the other pony Muzzo had referred to before. This one bore a familiar coat of cyan with a mane of far more colors. Standing next to her, Pinkie could immediately feel Applejack become tense. Neither, however, got to say anything before Muzzo did. "Miss Fluttershy, you have more patients."

The named pegasus shifted her head towards the doorway. At first, her look was of concern, but it took her less than a second to realize the chief wasn't being serious. Her expression glowed instantly. "Girls!" She left her conference with the gerbils to rush over to her friends.

Pinkie couldn't help herself. This one was hers. She bolted forward to meet Fluttershy halfway, intercepting the hug before any other pony got it. While the two mares embraced, Pinkie secretly waved to Rainbow Dash, who had taken notice of their intrusion. Before she could gauge Dash's reaction, Fluttershy pulled back from the squeeze. "Oh, Pinkie, I've missed you," she said in that hushed whisper she called a voice, "I've missed all of you! How have you all been doing?"

The pink pony glanced back at her three friends, who she found out were all looking at each other with half-smiles. "We've... had some ups and downs," Twilight eventually answered.

That reply seemed to confuse Fluttershy. She wasn't able to inquire about it before a different pony caught her attention. "Hey, Fluttershy. Are you sure he's supposed to take this thing? He won't let me hit 'im with it!"

The winged pony giggled as she turned around to face the other one. Rainbow was beating her wings just above the critter, referencing the needle she was hanging on to. "Yes, I'm sure. Gently offer it to him, and he'll be just fine." Rainbow appeared to get back to work, letting Fluttershy return to her friends. "Rainbow got here just before you did and she's been helping me with the animals," she explained. "She can be a little rough sometimes, but it's so nice having an extra set of hooves around to help."

"She wouldn't help an old mare chokin' on an apple core..."

The mutterings of a southern pony were answered by a swift knee to the ribs by the local librarian. Pinkie watched it happen and could easily sympathize with AJ's pain. It was Rarity, however, that stepped up to move the topic along. "Fluttershy, darling, you look _divine._ And that bag looks so fashionable!"

Pinkie hadn't even noticed any bags on the pegasus before that had been mentioned; Fluttershy seemed almost as surprised, considering how quickly she turned to look at them. A simple, relatable pair of saddlebags rested over the quiet mare's flank. "Oh, it's nothing special. I just use them to carry my medical supplies around to the different care centers."

That meant that there was more than this dinky place for a hospital. That was a good thing, really. Four beds didn't seem like much.

"So..."

Pinkie cringed at the single word. It had come from Applejack, and she used a tone to say it in that she was too familiar with. When the party pony dared to look at her friend, her fears became a reality. She was talking to Fluttershy, but obviously looking straight at Dash.

"Has Rainbow Dash been tellin' you what she's been up to?"

In the blink of an eye, Rainbow stopped paying any attention to the mongoose. That was a good thing, too. The poor mongoose didn't deserve the steel daggers that she was glaring at Applejack with.

"No, she hasn't!" Fluttershy exclaimed, oblivious to the tension. "We've been so busy with the zebras and animals, we haven't gotten to talk—"

Rainbow wasn't shamed about interrupting. The dangerous voice she used to do it in could have chilled Pinkie's drink with how icy it was. She didn't actually have a drink, but since it was on her mind, she was a little thirsty. "Can I get a _private_ word with you, _Applejack?_"

"Of course, partner."

Rainbow swooped over to the group having not yet greeted a single one of them. She threw the needle she had still unsuccessfully used at the floor near Fluttershy's hooves, then stormed toward the doorway where an orange earth pony waited. The two of them left together, swiftly walking side by side to a distance far away from where they had started.

Fluttershy blinked in surprise at Rainbow's sudden outburst; even Muzzo's attention was trained on the disappearing ponies. The remaining three shared a nervous glance amongst themselves.

"What was that about?" questioned Fluttershy, still stunned.

Twilight grimaced. She probably realized she was the only one brave enough to answer. "It's a story that's really better kept for another day."

-**TRS**-

Rainbow Dash granted herself access to the lead. They traveled somewhere around half a mile away from Fluttershy's workshop to a completely barren area. There was sand underhoof, a few boulders scattered around, but most importantly, not a single pony or zebra around. Only then did Rainbow spin around on her front hoof, bringing her face within inches of Applejack's own.

"Are you trying to start something?" she demanded to know. "Because you're about five minutes away from getting it."

Applejack didn't budge. The very brim of her Stetson was touching Dash's mane, which she disliked, but she wasn't about to pull back because of it. "I don't even know what yer on about. I was just askin' Fluttershy a legit question, tryin' t' figure out how much of your exaggerated garbage you've been feedin' her."

Rainbow wasn't happy with that answer. "Yeah, well, _hooves off_ Fluttershy. She doesn't need to get in the middle of us."

"What is it yer tryin' to say? You want me to lie to my friend?"

"You're not going to lie to anypony," Rainbow replied, now snarling. "You're going to keep your huge trap shut. Think back to how Pinkie reacted to our fighting. _Pinkie._ Fluttershy will freak the hay _out_ if she found out what happened. You talking is what started this in the first place, and I'm _not_ going to let you hurt my best friend the way you hurt—" She paused, looked away, then returned. "—the way you screwed me over."

"Aw, Rainbow," Applejack stated, a wide smirk on her face, "You'd have to _have_ feelings for me to hurt 'em."

It wasn't long after that sentence finished that it happened. A sensation, and an uncomfortable one at that. She reeled from it, falling backwards a few steps. Seconds later, her wits returned to her, and she realized what had brought that feeling on.

Rainbow had driven her front hoof straight into Applejack's forehead.

The cowpony stared at the rival, who was only standing there waiting. The sunset she saw out of the corner of her eye casted a strong light on Rainbow's form. Her blue fur clashed with the orange rays of the sun. Another side effect of the bright star was lighting physics; Rainbow's shadow laid across the ground just as tall as she herself stood. Both of them had their wings extended to their farthest reach. She appeared more prepared for a fight now than she did in Baltimare.

Wide-eyed in a blend of ire and daring, Applejack could think of only one thing to ask. "You're _really_ going to do this with our friends a few yards away?"

Rainbow Dash crouched down into a pouncing position. Her line of sight never swayed from Applejack's own. Once low enough to the ground, she uttered a single, simple word: "Yes."

She jumped. There was no turning back past that point.

Applejack wasn't ready to let her opponent get another easy shot at her. She evaded the dive by leaping to the side. The miss caused Rainbow to slide upon hitting the ground, but her awareness remained at the top level. AJ attempted to buck her from her new position, knowing Rainbow Dash couldn't dodge it by moving away. However, she failed to calculate for a single direction: up. Rainbow lifted herself off of the sand with ease, nearly forcing the other to fall off balance due to her own attack.

Those wings would be a problem, Applejack knew. Pinkie was still left in charge of her rope, or this battle could go much differently. Luckily, she noticed an opening that Rainbow wasn't doing a good enough job defending.

The farmer bounded forward. She didn't get much air on the jump—after all, she didn't need to. Rainbow's multi-colored tail was dangling rather close to the ground. Before she had a chance to pull away, Applejack grabbed the hair with her teeth. She used her momentum from the short hop she had made to slam Dash back to earth, landing next to her right afterward.

The blue body stayed sprawled on the ground for some time. If that crash landing had hurt, then _good._ "You'd think you would 'a learned from last time."

It wasn't a statement out of cockiness. Rainbow had fallen for something strikingly similar to that last time they needed to go through this. Last time, however, Rainbow hadn't taken advantage of it. Without giving Applejack any time to react to her, the pegasus rose from her prone position on only her front two hooves. Her back two legs wound up, then extended straight into AJ's body.

The strength from the push forced Applejack from her hooves. She got bucked through the air until she fell down, rolling over herself. While trying to pick herself back up from it, Rainbow made her divide some focus towards listening. "You didn't need to try upsetting Fluttershy. We both know that's all you were trying to get out of asking her that. You could have at least started with a, 'Hey, what's up?'"

She would be feeling that one in the morning. Nothing was broken, but dang if it didn't hurt. Still winded, though on all fours, Applejack bit back, "And what's stoppin' our friends from tellin' her why we just stormed off right now, Miss Subtlety?"

That question seemed to catch Rainbow by surprise. It didn't take her long to come up with a response, but AJ saw the weakness that she wanted to see. "At least they might consider how Fluttershy would react. If I had my way, she wouldn't need to find out until after our friendship is buried history."

AJ snorted. "I thought that happened back in Baltimare?"

The first response she received was RD pawing at the ground, looking like she was about to charge. She didn't. Yet. After that coupled with a glare, she got another earful. "Did I ever mention that the Wonderbolts were going to look over internship applications the _very next week_ after you met Soarin'?"

Applejack knew what happened after questions like that. She would get an answer, no doubt, but that wasn't what she cared about. Rainbow wasn't feinting with that hoof. They had more business to attend to.

"Yeah, you made sure they threw away my papers."

Rainbow bounced upward, straight into the sky. She kept herself higher than even Applejack's biggest jump, which meant that she would just need to react to whatever was thrown at her. Even though she had predicted round two was inbound, that didn't mean the situation sucked any less. She let her mind have a passing thought about the information Rainbow had just given her, but without hesitation, quickly set it aside and got her head into the game.

The blue mare waited until she was directly over Applejack's head. Only then did she dive downward at an unbelievable speed, intent on taking her other straight to the floor. The flaw in her plan was obvious—she had started from too high up. AJ had plenty of time to react, and she didn't waste it. Stepping aside, she had a front row view of RD smashing into the ground with a booming _thud._ Dust from the scorched area was kicked up in all directions; when just enough of it settled, Rainbow was to be found perfectly unscathed by the landing. Carrying a glint in her eye, Dash reached forward and swung her leg low to the ground, attempting to sweep both of AJ's front hooves out from under her. That wasn't smart on her part. The farmer put years of apple bucking to use by steeling her one leg. Dash's trick didn't have a chance at getting any farther than that.

Applejack kicked the intruding hoof away, then proceeded to take to the air herself. With a vertical jump, she was aiming to get some extra momentum behind her next move. One leg was held out, while another braced it; in another two seconds, her knee would be meeting Rainbow's face. Unfortunately, giving someone as speedy as Rainbow two seconds was too much. The pegasus back dashed, flapping once with her wings to make sure she got enough distance away. Applejack had no such tactic to rely on. Her extended limbs, her muzzle, and the rest of her body—in that order—plunged into the sand. Despite hearing the hooves galloping up to her, she was too stunned from her self-inflicted agony to be able to react to them.

Rainbow Dash lifted her front leg high into the air over Applejack's head, then let it drop like a stone. Her hoof pummeled through the cowpony's hat and made contact with her head. For a moment, even if she wanted to, Applejack wasn't able to move.

Rainbow was panting. Even with her face rubbing up against the ground and a blue-colored hoof holding it there, Applejack felt like she was doing something right if she had gotten her rival to pant that heavily. Eventually, said rival spoke. "If I _ever_... find out that you made Fluttershy cry... we'll be back here. You got that?"

Of course, the morale boost she had received from that knowledge was diminished slightly when it occurred to her that she was panting in exhaustion just as much. Rainbow finally removed her hoof after that stomp, which prompted the orange equine to stand up. Her own legs were shaky, but responsive. "That sure is a funny thing t' say..." Applejack rose her neck. She met Rainbow's eyes instantly to find a fire burning in them almost as big as the one flaring in her own. "Considerin' we ain't even done here yet."

Applejack lunged forward. The ponies were standing inches apart from each other, which meant that she was getting what she wanted. Mid-jump, AJ extended her leg out; she caught Rainbow Dash by the throat. Surprised, the pegasus was forced to go along for the ride, choking along the way.

The momentum from her leap had to end eventually. However, still feeling weakened by the day's thrashing, not even Applejack was able to recover from her own jump. Both ponies tumbled to the ground, rolling over multiple times before coming to a stop on their sides. Applejack's hat had fallen off at the point of impact. Neither of them were in a rush to get up and recover it.

A full minute must have passed. Neither of the mares spoke a word to each other, nor did they try any more assaults. They stayed where they were, breathing heavily and little else. Finally, in an unsure tone, Rainbow broke that silence.

"I forgot how durable you were," she said.

Applejack tried laughing. Her heavy breathing wasn't going to allow it though, and the laughter came out in a fit of coughing instead. "Personally, I'd appreciate it if you slowed down a bit next time," she eventually got to reply.

Another chunk of time escaped from them. A different sound caught Applejack's attention. Without even needing to open her eyes, she could tell that they were galloping hoofsteps. "Shoot," she muttered just loud enough for RD, having a strong feeling she knew who they belonged to.

"Girls!"

_Yep._ Applejack sighed, then, having caught enough of her breath, decided it was finally time to get off the ground. As a lavender-coated mare with a pink streak in her mane raced toward them, AJ limped toward her abandoned headgear.

"What in _Equestria_ do you think you're doing? Have you two lost it?!"

Applejack grabbed her hat from the ground, took a second to dust it off, and finally set it on top of her head. With a complete ensemble, she gave an ineffective glare at the newcomer. "Couldn't you 'a showed up _before_ she ax kicked me in the head?"

"You," she stated accusingly, her sights set straight on Applejack. "What part of you thought this was a good idea? We can't go werebear hunting with you dead tired and heaven knows how injured!"

"I'll be fine, Twilight," she replied in a semi-convincing tone of voice. "I play rougher 'n that with Winona."

Twilight did something then that legitimately scared the farmer, more than anything Rainbow had done that evening. She sniffled. "No... No, you won't be fine. Because you two are going to kill each other!" A few sudden tears drew lines down the mare's face, but her voice betrayed them. That was a thing already far more hysterical. "I don't care what you say, both of you are my friends and neither of you are going to change that! I thought—I thought you two were just going to yell at each other or something. Then Rarity saw—and showed—but I—"

It took her that long, but she gave up trying. She set her haunches down, bowed her head so her forelock hid her face from view, and broke down sobbing on the spot.

Applejack hadn't even done anything yet, and she was already out of ideas. Her only hope was Rainbow. The pegasus had also gotten to her hooves; it was blatantly clear, however, she was trying to avoid even looking at the unicorn. "Listen, Twilight..." she started off, practically exuding the fact she didn't know what to say afterwards. "I don't really know why you guys are here, or where you're going for this, uh, werebear hunting, but if it's all right, I think I'll just stay here and hang out with Fluttershy."

"Good," she said back as loudly as she could manage. It wasn't very loud. "Go_._"

Rainbow hesitated. It was obvious it stung her to leave a pony in such a state. Even if she was abandoning her to do all the hard work, Applejack had to give her credit for at least feeling bad. After another second or two, she used her wings to carry herself into the air and began a slow aerial march back to the town.

There was something nagging on AJ's mind. It seemed pointless not to get it out in the open while she was still here. "Dash," she called up to her.

Still looking upset about Twilight, and noticeably not very angry at anything, Rainbow turned around at the beckon. She stayed hovering in one spot without saying a word.

"I ain't gonna hurt Fluttershy. Never was. She's my friend too, y'know."

She didn't get a reaction for awhile. Actually, she never did. The pegasus let the words sink in, then silently continued on her journey to the medical center.

That left just two. Applejack turned from the sky to the trembling pony on the ground. She still didn't know what she was supposed to say here, which made her thrilled when Twilight helped her out.

"It took me up until now to realize Pinkie is the smartest one here." She was still sniffing rapidly, but she had considerably calmed herself down from before. "You were trapped in a cage for weeks. Rarity was borderline homeless in Canterlot. Rainbow can't even look at you without picking a fight... Who wouldn't want to go back in time? Everything is so messed up now, and it didn't seem to be that way just a few months ago."

AJ frowned. "Well, that's prob'ly because it wasn't that way a few months ago," she reported honestly. "I think the stress of this whole thing is just gettin' to you. It's gettin' t' all of us." That didn't seem to be working well; the librarian still kept her head low with her shoulders shaking. When a different alternative crossed her mind, Applejack found a small smile on her own lips. "Can I hug ya?"

_Sniff. Sniff._ Eventually, she got a nod out of it.

Walking hurt. It was inevitable. Besides the hike up Uppeak Mountain, which was long but not strenuous, and a short bout with a werebear or two, this was the first real workout she'd had since... well, since the last fight she'd had with Rainbow. Nonetheless, she tried to act as naturally as possible. If Twilight saw her in any sort of pain, the situation wasn't going to get any better.

Her arms wrapped themselves comfortably around Twilight's neck. The lavender pony didn't return the embrace, though she did lean into it. Applejack ran a hoof through Twilight's mane, which was still near flawless from Rarity's earlier work.

"Thank you, Applejack," she said, presumably for the hug. "Please, _please_ promise me you won't fight with Rainbow like that anymore."

Applejack thought back to the most important part of that battle—the very end of it. Rainbow had said something to her that was bound to stick with her for awhile. It was a compliment. She certainly hadn't heard one of those from that pegasus anytime lately. Returning to the present, the farmer closed her eyes, her body knowingly catching the very last few of Twilight's tears. "I'll do my part, sugar cube." She chuckled before adding, "I'll even give you a Pinkie Promise for it, with the cupcake 'n everything."


	12. Jungle Run

Pinkie Pie hadn't taken much notice of the amount of time that had passed since Twilight ran off. She hadn't been given an explanation; she just saw the two unicorns whisper something to each other, then the purple one was gone. It didn't bother her much, really. Fluttershy had kept her busy with giving medicine to the animals in the meantime. Mongooses were so _picky._

Soon, Rainbow returned, and not long after that, the remaining two showed up again. Not many words were shared, except when Twilight informed Muzzo that they were ready to roll out. It was a shame the pegasi weren't coming along, but as exciting as the reverstone was, medical attention was pretty important too. Next time they hunted down an artifact, Dashie and Flutters would definitely be there.

The town the group had been in wasn't very well shaded by trees. The area ahead, however, had no such problem. A forested area thicker than the one they had been in a few days ago—maybe even thicker than the Everfree—laid before them. The only way into the area at all was underneath a low-hanging tree branch, as everywhere else was blocked by thorny bushes and immovable trees. This was not a popular tourist attraction, apparently.

Muzzo stopped a short distance away from the insect-breeding bonanza before them. Since he was in the lead, the four ponies behind him halted in their tracks as well. "The In Snare Jungle," he stated. "I do not find myself saying this often, but I believe this is the location you are searching for."

"It certainly fits the bill..." muttered Rarity.

Pinkie felt it was going to be hard to top the excitement building in her at that moment. They were practically staring straight at the object they had searched so hard for. All they had to do now was put a little effort into grabbing it.

The zebra tribe leader turned around so he could face his pony followers. "I do not know just how familiar you are with werebears."

Applejack caught herself before she laughed. "You might be surprised."

Her words made Pinkie look at her fellow earth pony for the first time since earlier. She looked so... tired. What was she really doing with Rainbow before?

The thought slipped from the pink mare's mind when Muzzo's deep voice pressed on. "It is not easy to defend yourself from a werebear when the need arises. However, it is rumored that they are resistant to many kinds of magic. If combat is necessary, you may wish to rely on your physical strength instead." He was doing it again. He was looking straight at Applejack, just like when they had arrived. Was it because she looked like the strongest in the group? That would make sense, considering what he just said.

"Thank you, Muzzo, for everything," Twilight said graciously. "We'll keep that thought in mind."

Muzzo bowed. "May you and your princess find what you seek. I will be in town when you return."

With a round of understanding nods, the striped creature began a trot to return to his tribe.

After their host got out of earshot range, Twilight faced the team. Her eyes seemed the teeniest bit bloodshot. That was strange, too. "Rarity, I know you dislike fighting. Even if our magic won't help us much like Muzzo said, do you still want to come along?"

Rarity played with the springy curl in her mane, bouncing it up and down while looking fearlessly into the jungle. "Darling, a lady such as I is more than capable of taking care of myself. Besides, I feel like this is a way to redeem myself from that unfortunate Canterlot scene."

"Okay, then," responded Twilight with a grin. "On behalf of the princess and the sake of Equestria—" She narrowly remembered the last reason they were here. "—err, and the reverstone, let's do this!"

Things blackened almost instantly after they squeezed underneath the log-sized branch. A rough path could be seen laid out ahead of them, but they needed to keep their wits sharp if they didn't want to accidentally stray from it. Enormous trees, entire families of shrubs, and poisonous berries were everywhere around them, and little else was. For at least the time being, they had just enough light to pass without requiring Twilight's magic.

"So what exactly is it we're lookin' for, anyway?" Applejack wondered. She quickly moved her hoof's direction so it didn't fall into a sea of overgrown grass.

Pinkie, keeping herself in the lead, was quick to answer. "The werebear's home."

Rarity spoke up next. "But isn't this entire In Snare Jungle their home?"

"I don't think so." That was just an educated guess by Twilight. But as far as educated guesses go, one could do a lot worse than Ponyville's librarian. "If past experiences are any indication, werebears seem to live in tunnels. I'm thinking we'll find a cave or something like that somewhere in here. However, that doesn't mean there won't be any strolling around this place. We _need_ to be careful."

"Or an ancient temple of doom," Pinkie offered.

That suggestion earned her three deadpan stares. The responses made her blink in confusion. "What? It could happen!"

Not a long time passed. Silence had already fallen over the group. They were excited, nervous, and cautious; any thoughts of words just took a backseat. Twilight's voice, though quiet, cut through the nothingness.

"I don't like this. I was hoping to see more werebears by now."

"Hopin' to see _more_ of 'em?" echoed Applejack like she didn't believe her ears. "You just a glutton for punishment tonight or somethin'?"

Twilight sighed. Not in a "your simpleton mind could never comprehend my genius" kind of way, more like a "I'm generally depressed by this news" fashion. Twilight Sparkle had notably well-defined sighs. "But the more that we find in here, the less that are out there in Equestria. If the cave we were in was labeled a Ponyville base, who knows where else they could be hiding. What if they have even more around Ponyville? Or Canterlot?"

Pinkie blinked her eyes. She thought she saw something in the distance, in between those two elm trees; even after clearing her eyes, she found that the object was still there. It was shadowy, but the features were near unmistakable. "Um, Twilight?"

"Princess Luna said that she would have the guards ready, but how can she do that without alerting everypony?" she went on, probably not even realizing Pinkie had spoken.

Apparently, AJ had spotted the same thing. "Twi?"

"We don't actually have any proof that they'll attack us. That's why we're here. We're just visiting! They shouldn't attack us unless they have something to hide, right?"

The last one cleared her throat. "_My_, that is one big boy. Twilight, dear, you really should..."

"Should wha—_eep._"

No doubt about it from this distance, that was definitely the outline of a werebear. The only reason they hadn't gotten caught yet was because his rump was turned toward them. His head moved side to side rhythmically, like it was searching for something. Or somepony. After a moment of very shallow breathing from the ponies, the oversized creature turned to his right and started walking that way, further off the trail. So he was definitely a patrol, then.

When they felt it was safe enough, three of the four equines hopped behind a bush large enough to cater them. Pinkie crouched down, but remained where she was just long enough to relay her new mission. "I'm goin' after him!"

As she crept forward, she heard a hushed shout from behind the bush. "Pinkie Pie, are you _mad?!_" It definitely belonged to Twilight, but nothing was going to get her to turn around now.

It was sneaky sneak time. Ignoring incomprehensible whispers from her friends, she began Operation: Track The Werebear.

Just like when she told Twilight to disappear back in the werebear cave, her instincts were telling her this was the right thing to do, even if she wasn't sure why. On paper, it really didn't sound like a good idea to silently track a werebear through territory only they knew. Luckily, however, Pinkie Pie didn't have any paper in her head, so she felt like she had an edge.

Her camouflage was faulty, she admitted. There wouldn't be much hiding in sight with totally unfitting pink curls everywhere. With that thought in mind, she took the extra step of leaping behind a tree when the werebear came to another stop. Leaning up against it on two hooves, Pinkie poked her head out from the side so she could keep a visual on him. He looked from side to side again, just like before. Then, he continued... but not before lifting his furry paws over something.

Sight was limited in this dark jungle, so she couldn't risk losing him. Spinning out from behind cover, she resumed creeping along a relatively safe distance behind him. When she got to the same spot the creature had been standing in just moments before, she came to a hasty stop. An old rope was fastened low to the ground between the two trees at either of her sides. She looked up; there was even more twine up there, but this one had metal cans strung though it. Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought. "_Hmm... Some kind of futuristic alarm system,_" she concluded.

She would take no chances on this. Quietly setting herself on the ground, she slid her body underneath the string, one careful crawling step at a time. When she cleared the obstacle in certainty, she sprung up and dashed forward, risking a little sound for the sake of making up lost ground.

The rope made things complicated, she thought along the way. What would entice them to booby trap their own territory like that? Unless, as Twilight put it, they had something to hide. The fact that she had only just now found a trap was encouraging. It meant that he was going to lead her somewhere she wanted to go. As long as she could stay quiet enough.

The werebear pressed on for awhile in that same direction this time. Pinkie's heartbeat was so erratic that she was afraid he might hear it. The level of stealth needed for the cave back around Ponyville didn't hold a candle to this. Again without warning, he stopped; trying hard to keep her breaths steady, Pinkie soundlessly stepped off to the side just in case he looked behind him.

Peeking her head out from behind the vertically-gifted pillar of bark, she saw that her target had stopped in a cleared out area. Or at least as cleared out as this place was going to get. A little more sunshine managed to break its way through, revealing green grass all around the compact clearing... except for in a wide circle that the werebear was standing in front of. The greenery in that orb-shaped spot seemed much darker, and overall not very fitting in the surroundings. Another trap, she bet.

"Anything yet?"

Pinkie dove back behind the tree as quickly as she was able to. That raspy voice did _not_ come from her target. Worse, she was hearing paw steps coming her way. She was about to have company of the wrong kind if she didn't do something.

"No. It doesn't matter. Today, tomorrow, next week. They'll be here."

"_They?_" Pinkie thought to herself. "_Is they us?_"

No other words were exchanged, leaving only the sound of moving paws to be heard. They were growing closer, completely unaware of her presence for a moment that wasn't going to last much longer. In a state near panic, Pinkie looked at the ground. There it was: a rock. Hardly a smoke bomb, but it would need to do.

She dared the briefest of glances out again so she could figure out what angle she was working with. He was maybe four or five meters away, and luckily not paying attention to any pink curls hiding behind trees. She dug the stone from the earth and positioned it in front of her front left hoof. That tree over there was her only hope.

It was no different than launching a party cannon, really. After all, one doesn't simply point and shoot those things—accurate measurements need to be taken first. Otherwise the balloons fly out the window and the tablecloths land on the cat. And she wasn't about to make _that_ mistake again.

Three steps. Two. Just one more step. Pinkie brought her hoof back in preparation, then kicked the rock in front of her with as much strength as she could muster. The result was near instantaneous. The pebble grabbed air while hurtling straight toward a tree. From there, it proceeded to ricochet straight into a _thump._

_Nailed it._

The werebear had gotten nicked hard by the small stone. Much more importantly, he had gotten nicked hard in the opposite direction Pinkie Pie was in. Having felt the rock, the werebear growled to himself and jerked in the direction he had gotten hit from. His back was completely turned to Pinkie.

Not missing her cue, the pink mare exited out the left side of the tree. She squatted low to the ground to maximize the quietness of her hoofsteps, which also allowed her to hide in the local foliage a bit. Once she slipped past the bear still looking for the perpetrator, Pinkie scrambled to catch up with the original bear she had been hunting, who was already on the move.

She found that he had turned directions. Now he was moving in the same direction the group of ponies had started out in. They were heading deeper into the In Snare Jungle.

A couple minutes of quiet walking passed. Pinkie Pie's heart rate was doing much better. Having gotten out of that jam without issue made the rest of this seem like another Tuesday. An ear was kept out for further steps that weren't by her or the single werebear in front of her, but nothing was heard. She carefully wove around fallen leaves, fearing that even a single crinkle could blow her cover. The bear then sidestepped around something, but proceeded in the same direction.

Pinkie paid it almost no mind until she reached that same exact spot. Just before setting her hoof down on the grass, she looked at where it was going—and quickly changed her mind. Laying on the ground was a steel device. It looked like it had a set of jaws on it, except it was ringed with razor-sharp spikes, not teeth. Any amount of pressure would send those jaws snapping up for a very, very big owie. The skull of some small animal rested uncared for directly next to the trap, confirming the owie's size.

She couldn't help but stare at the object, like she was hoping her gaze would make it disappear. That... was different. That trap wasn't just an alarm to trip intruders up, it was downright dangerous. If the werebears had no qualms about employing a trap to kill someone, they weren't likely to take very good care of any trespassers they caught.

With a gulp, and a long step over that trap, she pressed forward.

Her mind was allowed a distraction from that disturbance before long. The werebear turned left to patrol down that way. However, Pinkie discovered something far more important than that. Once the enemy had gotten far enough away, she allowed herself out of the crouching position she had been stuck in since she'd first taken off. Gazing forward in awe, she took a couple small steps, but was able to get no farther before a voice from behind her cried out.

"Pinkie, that was _insane_, even for you." It was Twilight's voice. How long had she been following her? If Pinkie wasn't enraptured with something else at the moment, she would have put more thought into it. "You're unbelievably lucky you didn't get caught. Now that we got that out of your system, let's get back and figure out a plan—"

She was silenced without a word being spoken. Pinkie Pie lifted a hoof and pointed directly in front of them. That shut her up on the spot.

Beyond some bushes, beyond a defensive wall of trees was a clearing far larger than the earlier one. Sitting in the very center of the area was a structure that would make _Daring Do_ grin with nostalgia. Battered by weather and weak with age, a scary temple loomed before them. Its foundation was made entirely out of stone, but the rest looked like it was crafted with wood generations ago. The building reached up just as high as the treetops did; resting stationary on the peak was a large design of a bear head, it too being made from wood. It appeared that they were facing toward the wall of the shrine, as stone steps leading upwards on a different side led to the assumption that the front door was over there.

Twilight stood in that same spot for a moment, her mouth having already dropped open. She seemed to be most caught up in the werebear's head and the way that the sinking sun hit it at such an unnerving angle. The creepy shadow that hung over only half of the sculpture made it seem like it could turn and bite them any second. After a minute or two, the librarian remembered to blink. "I'll go get the girls," she said.

Using the technique successfully this time, Twilight vanished on the spot, disappearing without a sound supposedly to where Pinkie had left them. Not that the other noticed. She, too, was pretty attached to the thought of watching the building in front of her. "Uh-huh," she finally responded to Twilight.


	13. Signs of the Times

Backtracking wasn't as difficult as Twilight would have guessed. The party of three didn't encounter any werebears along the way, which made for relatively easy traveling. Though it was intimidating to cross over unmarked grounds, Twilight did remember the pivotal locations. That was where Twilight nearly tripped over an obvious rope just hanging there; Pinkie's incredible bank shot and that (rather ironic) bear trap weren't long after it. Even if Pinkie didn't realize she had been followed, the lavender pony gave her credit for being successful and creative enough to find their destination. Not that she would recommend doing it again.

Twilight was wrapping up a summary of thoughts that had occurred to her during the stealth run just before they approached Pinkie and got a view of the grand temple. She felt as though she hadn't done a good job capturing Applejack's attention, but she knew Rarity would be interested. "That's why I think Muzzo might have been mistaken. If they were resistant to magic, my Sleepytime spell wouldn't have been as effective as it was. I don't know what, but it must be something else. So if you need to, don't be afraid to rely on your magic, Rarity."

The pink mare had taken the liberty to duck behind a bush while waiting. Twilight was just thankful she had waited at all, as it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that she would have left for adventure all on her own... again. Approaching the pony also meant they were getting close to the ancient structure. As they got a better view of it, Applejack spoke the only thing she was able to: "Whoa, Nelly."

"Ready, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked with a grin.

"_Born _ready."

In turn, the four leapt over a thorny bush and in between a thin opening between the trees. They were finally outside of the jungle for a little while and into the clearing. Crossing an open field might have been on the dangerous side of things, but they had no other way to reach it. Rather than wasting time figuring out if there were any local werebears around, they decided simply hoping there wasn't was a better alternative.

While trotting toward the temple's entrance, Rarity couldn't take her eyes off of it. The expression on her face told the world that she was mixed at best about it. "It has a... rustic charm, doesn't it?"

"They din't even waste their time tryin' to make this subtle, did they?" wondered Applejack, pushing the brim of her hat upwards to get a better look.

"All the easier for us," Twilight happily replied. "If there's something that screams 'werebear home' louder than this in the jungle, I'm not sure if I want to find it."

The other unicorn cleared her throat, her gaze now set on Pinkie. "Sweetie, I believe all of us owe you an apology for before. When you mentioned some temple of death, we didn't quite think you were being so serious."

Twilight Sparkle found it hard to be too upset about that. If Pinkie had a bit for every time she guessed something crazy and was wrong about it, she—actually, she's usually right about them. The unicorn sighed in her confusion, but perked up when Pinkie responded back to Rarity.

"Finding the reverstone is all the apology I need."

She was so determined when she said that, it was almost scary. She would never allow them to leave the temple before they combed over every inch of it twice. Twilight had hoped that maybe connecting with all of her friends again would have made her forget about the thing, but it only seemed to make her drive stronger.

As much as she couldn't stand admitting this to herself, Twilight knew that there was a very real possibility they were standing outside the doors housing an actual reverstone. If one of their princesses—even the one that had been sent away for a millennia—believed in that thing, there was a possibility it existed, science be darned. Twilight still had a hard time believing it. But_ what if_ it did exist? Would Pinkie really go back in time, and then just... stay there? It was painful to think that after all of this, she might lose the friend that had kept her going in Ponyville for the past month.

No, that wasn't important. Well, it wasn't _too_ important. Time-traveling rock or not, they were here on clear orders from the princess. Anything else could just be dealt with after they were through with that.

By the time Twilight broke free from her reverie, she came to the startling realization she had traveled around the building's side and up the stone stairs. She found herself and her friends staring straight into the front door. The "front door," however, was actually a three-meter-tall cavity in the outside wall of the temple; it looked as though someone had set off an explosion to get inside a long time ago, and no one had bothered to fix it since. It was wide enough to accommodate a regular-sized werebear and then some.

"Well, Pinkie," AJ started, "if them adventure stories are much to go by, we found the right place for yer stone. No question there."

Pinkie hopped off to the side of the temple's porch. She had apparently caught sight of a small pile of thick sticks that were laying there. Showing no concern for their cleanliness, Pinkie stooped down and grabbed one in her mouth. She turned to Twilight and with her teeth full said, "Tw'ight, give me a light."

"She raises a good point," Rarity offered. "It doesn't exactly look bright inside of there. Unless you want to be everypony's flashlight, a torch may help."

That was sound enough logic. Now whether Pinkie was thinking along those same lines, or simply wanted to carry around a stick that was on fire, she didn't dare to ask. Instead, she conjured a modest fireball with her magic and launched it at the opposite end of the dry piece of wood. With that done, the group allowed Pinkie to lead on. It was time for the inside tour of the werebear's temple to get under way.

Almost immediately upon entering, Pinkie's two front hooves sank—then she started falling with them. Making use of her gifted reaction speed, Applejack lunged forward and grabbed the pony by her fluffy tail. Twilight's heart had missed at least one beat during that time period.

Looking at the floor, she found that an entire line of tiles had given way, far before they had arrived there. What remained was a black pit that not even the torch's light illuminated.

After pulling her back to safer footing, Applejack chanced a peek over the bottomless ditch. "Don' know what's down there, but I ain't volunteerin' to find out."

"Mm-hm..." Pinkie agreed. Physically she might be shaken, but Twilight knew that did little against her resolve. Trying one more time, Pinkie crossed the temple's threshold again, this time hopping to get over the entrance. The remaining three soon followed after her.

Now that they were actually in the place, they could take their time looking around it. The floor they were standing on was made of wood—rather uncared for wood. Some parts of it were squishy to step on, while other sections felt like they might give way entirely. Looking up from there, Twilight nearly screamed in surprise. Two statues stood up against the far wall; they must have been on sturdier ground, because they looked like they weighed a ton. The statues' tops were fixed with a roaring werebear's head, like a miniature version of the one on top of the temple itself. On the pillars themselves were designs, both of them unique to their own statue. One of the signs was an arrow pointing up to the ceiling, while the other showed what appeared to be uncoordinated lines. Just beneath those compositions were square holes carved far into the base. It wasn't hard at all to find cracks, scoffs, and especially dust all over the statues. Those things had certainly been there awhile.

Strangely, next to the pair of statues was what appeared to be a second set with one key difference: they weren't in one piece. The werebear head that used to adorn the far left one had fallen from its perch and was now laying on the ground next to it, while the next one in line didn't have a bust at all. Everything above the halfway mark was shattered beyond repair. If either of the pillars had insignias or inserts in them like their brothers, time had weathered and destroyed any trace of them.

Scattered in seemingly unspecific spots around the room were several blocks crafted from stone. The assumption to be made here was plain as day: shove the rocks in the openings on the statues. Twilight was a dedicated follower of the _Daring Do_ series, however, and knew it was never going to be as obvious as that.

"I'm sorry for speakin' outta line here," Applejack spoke, glancing at the stones, then at the statues, "but ain't this just a _little_ stereotypical?"

Twilight stepped farther into the room and closer to the statues before responding. "The princess said that the werebears thrive on deception. I'm not left very surprised that they laid out some puzzles to protect themselves." The fire burning next to Pinkie Pie's face must have sparked, as the room grew brighter for a flash of a second; that had been enough time for Twilight to catch sight of the inside of the wall. "Wait! What was that? Pinkie, come here for a second."

The pink mare and her accompanying rod of fire bounced over to Twilight's position. The unsettling statues became even more illuminated, but more importantly, so did the wall. Writing adorned almost every free inch of the wall. Unfortunately, it was writing she only recognized _because_ she didn't recognize it. "All of this writing is written in werebear..."

"Some over there, too," Applejack stated, pointing to the opposite side of the far statue.

"Twilight, have a look at this."

Though the unicorn had summoned just one, all three friends wandered over to Rarity's position. She was idling next to one of the blocks that were resting on the ground, her horn activated to cast a faint light. She dropped that as soon as Pinkie's fire came around to help out.

Rarity pointed a hoof at the center of the block. "Look, there's some sort of design carved in it."

She spoke of a depiction of an arrow that had been engraved into the rock. It matched almost perfectly with the design on one of the statues. It was even pointed in the same direction. "Okay! So let's get this thing into that statue over there. If we match them up, I'm sure something will happen." She moved her gaze towards the pair of towers that had seen better days. Thinking of certain possibilities (for example, those two being _critical_ for the success of the puzzle), she bit the side of her lip. "Err... just hope we don't get caught up on them."

"One problem at a time." Feeling more than capable, Applejack stepped up to the piece. After just a moment of preparation, she rammed into the cube using her shoulder—and came to an instant stop. "Whoa—!"

"You aw' 'wight?" Pinkie mumbled as the cowpony recovered from the blow.

She gawked at the object. It was only as tall as Applejack's legs, and as wide as a hoof and a half, yet it had showed not a single sign that it wanted to budge. Swallowing her pride, she turned to their local puzzle solver. "Twi, that thing is heavier than a bulldog at a buffet. What are we supposed to do now?"

"We'll just need to all try together. Ready, girls?" Twilight asked, flaring up her horn.

The unicorns both grabbed a hold of it the best they could using their magic. Pinkie Pie dug her hooves into the wood and started pulling the rock, while AJ stayed where she was and tried shoving it once again. With maximum effort (and a lot of grunting) from all four teammates, the tiny boulder allowed itself to be moved. Slowly at first, then picking up speed, they managed to slide it all the way across the floor to the front of the statue. When Twilight yelled stop, Applejack crumpled to the floor, panting, and Rarity nearly joined her. Twilight was too intrigued by the puzzle to feel much physical exhaustion, and Pinkie wasn't allowed to pant due to the flaming stick in her mouth.

"Okay," the lavender mare began, "Now we just need to lift it into that opening."

"Lift?! But we— "

Twilight silenced the earth pony via interrupting her. "Rarity and I will lift it from the ground. You two can help out as soon as you're able to."

"We will?" Rarity squeaked, daunted.

And so they began again. It took much of Twilight's concentration to lift the rock vertically; Rarity had little practice with such heavy objects, so the other wasn't going to blame her for anything. A massive wave of relief rushed over her when she felt the key getting much lighter—Applejack and Pinkie had squeezed their heads underneath it and lifted up. With teamwork, they got the small tablet started in its slot. The pair of earth dwellers were able to slide it farther in from there.

It didn't reach the very back of the statue's insert. Once it failed to do that, there was a distinct clicking sound.

Applejack and Pinkie felt a small tremor just beneath them. Not hesitating, they leaped away from the statue and over to their friends; as they did, the two floor tiles immediately in front of the statue broke apart. Nothing but blackness replaced them. Dropping down there would take them to that same, long fall Pinkie nearly had back at the entrance.

The cowpony huffed, "What a prize."

"I... don't think we won." Twilight fell back on her tried and true method of thinking: she paced. Back and forth, taking only a few steps in a direction before swapping sides to the opposite one, she constantly looked between the statue and the rock they had just put in it. It was still sticking halfway out. "But that doesn't make any sense!"

She quadruple-checked herself. The statue had an arrow blazoned on it, just like the stone key. Why wouldn't they match? Did this rock go to one of the broken down statues next to it? Her mind shifted uselessly back to the writing on the wall. For all she knew, they could be clear instructions for beating the puzzle. That was actually genius, once she thought about it, writing a cheat sheet in a language only werebears understand. None of that was very helpful to her right now, though.

"Hmph," Rarity tossed in, not helping Twilight think any. "I'm still not convinced this is so tough. If you want to see a real puzzle, try managing the finances of a business."

That seemed to lighten the farmer's mood by a bit. "That part ain't so bad once you get the know-how," she said, turning to Rarity. "You should make yer sister do all o' yer bank runs, like I do. Keeps 'em busy. Apple Bloom loves it, and I get more work done."

The torch held tightly in Pinkie's mouth was suddenly released; Rarity managed to catch it with her magic a millisecond before it hit the wooden floor and lit the entire place up. Though she breathed a sigh of relief, Pinkie hadn't even seemed to notice. Her eyes were wide as if a dozen light bulbs went off in her head simultaneously. "_Twilight!_" she shouted, strongly emphasizing the name. "The arrow's in the wrong direction!"

Twilight ignored the near-igniting of the temple in favor of Pinkie's suggestion. She looked at the arrow on the statue, then at the one on the rock. Both were pointing up in the same exact fashion. "Uh, you're going to need to help me out here, Pinkie."

"We need the _reverse_ of what's on the statue!"

"Reverse..." Twilight echoed. Her face lit up in realization. "Reverse! Like the princess said! Pinkie, that's brilliant!"

"It ain't too brilliant," Applejack stated, perhaps a little upset her conversation with Rarity had gotten thrown off. "We have sort of a deep problem here."

She gestured towards the base of the statue, where literally nothing was awaiting Twilight's gaze. The floor had caved in, most likely having been a defense mechanism against incorrect guesses. Pinkie and Applejack would never be able to reach it on their own, and they had been the only reason it went in as far as it did. "All right," she stated slowly, giving herself more time to improvise. "I'll make a barrier over there that you two can stand on. It's up to you three to get the key out, rotate it, and put it back in. I _really_ feel like we're on to something this time, so let's give it a shot. Ready? Go!"

The three ponies who were tasked with the heaviest job all shared a reluctant look with each other. It was pointless to argue with Twilight, though, they knew. The two manual mares stepped onto the purple floor created over the gaping hole, neither of them trying to look down. "I'm hauntin' you if you mess this up, Twi," AJ warned.

With a grand effort, Pinkie was able to pull the rock back out from its place while Applejack held it steady. Pushing her magic to the breaking point, Rarity managed to twist the direction of the arrow. Under a heavy strain, Applejack sounded out, "Hurry... up..."

It seemed like hours, though it wasn't even a minute. That was when Rarity spoke up. "There, the arrow's pointed down now."

No time was wasted. The earth ponies shoved the block with all of their remaining strength, sliding it back into where it had been. This time, there was a radical difference: it not only continued past where it had gotten stuck before, but also fell into its place there with far more ease. There was no death trap at the end of it, either. Already showing signs of tiredness, the two stepped off of Twilight's barrier, which faded thereafter.

"We did it!" squealed Twilight. "Now that we know what we're doing, let's get the second one!"

Pinkie, taking her torch back from the blue aura that was causing it to levitate, and Rarity both cantered off to look at the three remaining keys that were scattered around the floor. Applejack stayed back to voice more of her concerns. "So it's good that we're lookin' for the reverse of things and all, but what in the hay is the reverse of _that?_"

Twilight stared at the statue, which Pinkie's fire just barely reached from over in the corner where she was. Not that any extra light would have helped. Whatever symbol was written on the thing, Twilight couldn't even take a shot what the reverse of it was supposed to be. It sort of looked like a boot with a circle over it, then a line over that, and half of a, err... thing next to that.

"Pinkie, could you hand me that werebear book that we found?" The unicorn used her magic to grab a hold of the torch, preventing Pinkie from taking another go at burning the place down while she retrieved the book.

The pony trotted over to her friend, sifting through her bag to find the item all the while. When she revealed it, Twilight grabbed it too with magic. She wasn't able to even open it up before Rarity called out to them from the opposite side of the room. Her horn was glowing again, helping her see all the way over there.

"One of these things has a picture of the sun on it. I couldn't find anything on this one."

"The one over there has a mystic design on it!" offered Pinkie, pointing at the one she had examined.

"So, it'd be Pinkie's then, right?" Applejack asked.

That voice inside of Twilight's brain was wanting to yell again. "_If you'd all just shut up and let me read, I might be able to answer you!_" Of course, she fought back that urge. Levitating the torch on one side and trying to read a hovering book on the other, Twilight quietly flipped through several pages searching for a character similar to the one engraved before her. "I don't know," she finally responded to Applejack. "What if that means 'moon'? Or even just 'something'? Then either of the ones Rarity found could be it. Oh, this would be so much easier if the other two statues weren't in shambles..."

"Less liftin' I need to do, at least," Applejack said, apparently trying to cheer her up.

Finally, Twilight found it: a werebear character dead-on with the one printed on the statue. Not lifting her head up from the book, she moved the torch all the way over to Pinkie's side. "Okay, Pinkie. What does that insignia look like?"

The pink mare squatted next to the stone, racking her brains for any definitions she could use to describe it. "Uhm... It's sort of like a candy cane with a sword crossing over it."

That wasn't expected to be as useful as it was. Bringing the torch back around to herself, Twilight found something that looked like that straight away. She also found it plenty interesting that it appeared in the same line as the first symbol. "I don't like it much, but it's as good an option as any. Once more, ladies."

It wasn't like Twilight to throw caution to the wind like that, but she had no choice. There was no resources to turn to, no planning to be done. If running outside and asking the nearest werebear for a hand was the best alternative, she knew that a guess would just need to be made.

All four of them got in the same positions they were in the first time. Whether it was her imagination or not, this rock seemed to slide across the ground easier than the last one. Or maybe Pinkie was just putting her back into it. Once they lifted it into the air and set it on the very brim of the insert, Twilight gulped in fear. All she could do now was be prepared to catch both Applejack and Pinkie Pie if they happened to fall through the floor.

The key was shoved in. Farther, farther... it stopped. But not before touching the wall behind it.

Whatever the candy cane meant, it was obviously the opposite of the boot.

Before they had a chance to share their thoughts on the outcome, the entire ground shook. Or maybe it was the entire temple. Either way, it stopped after just a few seconds. The earthquake had revealed the way forward—a section of the right-hoof wall crumbled to the ground, leaving the hidden passageway behind it in plain sight. Dust exploded into the room they were in, but it soon settled down enough to not be a distraction.

"Perfect!" Pinkie exclaimed. "You're the best, Twilight!"

Applejack was the first to trot toward their new exit. "Well, c'mon, ya'll. Maybe we'll get lucky and somethin' will try to kill us next."

Rarity followed after her. Pinkie was about to be third in line, but stopped mid-bounce when she saw Twilight hadn't moved. She was still levitating the torch close to her face and looking back at the destroyed statues. "What's up, Twilight?"

"It's just that we really only fixed half of the puzzle," she stated. "I don't know why the door opened up like that. I guess it isn't very important, though."

The two in the lead, having been relying on the torch to see, waited for the last two to follow them. They crossed the threshold of collapsed rocks to reach the other side. To their surprise, the room they found themselves in was claustrophobic; it was nothing but a staircase that wound back and forth. The first thing Twilight noted was that all of the stairs were created using wood much newer-looking than the room they had just been in (at least their hooves weren't sinking anymore). The second thing she noticed was all of the walls still had writing on them. When she looked at a specific entry written to her left, her curiosity rose drastically. "Guys, wait a minute."

She put her hoof on the wall, blocking out the unimportant parts. The crude writing she was looking at was directly above it. "This part isn't written in werebear. It says, 'Day 5,026.'"

"'Day'?" Applejack parroted, "Is that some kinda journal entry or somethin'?"

"Five-thousand days..." Twilight spoke out loud, even if it was mostly to herself. "That's over fifteen years."

Pinkie rose an eyebrow. "But why would werebears need to keep a diary of something?"

In an attempt to intrude politely, Rarity cleared her throat. She glanced back towards the entrance to the temple, then back to her teammates. "I don't mean to be rude, but this passageway showing up wasn't exactly _quiet._ Maybe we should continue on soon, hm?"

The hint was taken. Chancing one last glance back to make sure they hadn't been found, the group of four traversed the stairs leading upward. After a short climb, they turned at the landing and continued upwards again.

The second floor of the temple awaited them.


	14. One Step Too Far

When they reached the top of the stairwell, a room half the size of the one below it was there to greet them. The left side wall contained the aftermath of an explosion, much like the entrance had. The reason why wasn't as obvious, but it at least allowed sunlight to enter the chamber. On the opposing side of the room from that was a second staircase that led higher into the temple. Naturally, getting there wasn't going to be easy.

Resting on the wall—which was scribbled with more werebear notes everywhere—was a pair of pipe-like fixtures. One end launched a sharp-tipped arrow; the other received one. These tubes were scattered around the entire room, aiming in nearly every direction imaginable. From one wall to another, high and low, to a ceiling's corner all the way to the complete opposite side of the room. Arrows were being flung everywhere, but that didn't stop Twilight from stepping out of the stairway and examining the white-colored spouts.

"It's... an auto-reloading arrow mechanism!" she announced to her group. "That's _amazing._ Every one of these must have been made by hoof! Err, paw."

The other three poured into the room with the relative safety that they had near the entrance. Apparently deciding it was no longer needed, Pinkie trotted over to the "window" and chucked the torch down to the ground. Judging by the sound it made, it must have hit the inflammable stone steps. Applejack, meanwhile, was glancing around, likely disconcerted with all of the clicking noises and shooting bolts. "Not really in the mood to compliment these guys, Twi. Can we break 'em or somethin'?"

"That would take hours!" Pinkie whined. "There's hundreds of these things!"

Hundreds might have been an exaggeration, but to an extent, Twilight agreed. It was Rarity that offered a suggestion next. "Sure, there might be a few of them, but they _are _only shooting one arrow at a time. I can already see a path to those stairs over there."

Rarity to the rescue again—her eagle eyes could spot anything they were challenged to. Twilight grinned, an inner part of her glad they wouldn't need to destroy such grand technology, even if it was trying to kill them. "Great, Rarity! Could you lead the way?"

She seemed most pleased with the reception she got. "Most certainly. Just, do be careful. Wait until I say—"

"Hey, guys?"

The group turned their attention to Pinkie Pie, who still stood next to the shattered wall. She was smiling back at them in return. Not her usual half-circle Pinkie smiles; those were nice, but the smaller, shy grins were wonderful in their own right. "Thanks. For coming all this way, I mean. I know we're doing this for the princess, but you're also helping me. I could never have gotten as far by myself as we have together."

"Shucks," Applejack responded. "Can't say I don't owe you a favor or two, Pinkie. And since it's from you, I'm not even surprised it involves finding a rock."

Twilight couldn't hold back a smile of her own. Even if she didn't put much effort into trying it. "Pinkie, I was with you way before this became a royal quest. We're helping because we're your friends! And because we know you'd do the same for us."

Under slightly different circumstances, a group hug would have been inevitable. Something about being in a room full of deadly traps, however, didn't set the right scene for it. "As Twilight said," Rarity added, "we'll be around to help any time at all that you need it. Even for your insane journeys like this one. Now, let's get moving. We do have mystic treasure to find, after all."

The fashionista gave herself a moment to study the pattern of the arrows in front of her. There were two sets constantly going back and forth with each other: one aimed low at the legs, and the other wishing to pierce a neck. With as much grace as one would expect from Rarity, she dashed underneath the high one while the lower one was recharging. "See? Nothing to it."

She continued on, and one by one, she was followed. They stayed in a single file, knowing that trying to push anymore would undoubtedly end with somepony being skewered. Twilight volunteered to take the rear. If she could stay alert enough, she might be able to use her magic to stop an arrow from injuring one of her friends, should something go wrong.

Moving wasn't going very fast. In this case, it might be worth not rushing it, though. While Rarity took her time on a four-way arrow crossing, Pinkie decided she was bored. "Do you think all of these arrows are constantly shooting like this? Seems like a waste to me."

Twilight looked behind her. She could tell by the sun's position that in roughly ten minutes, it was going to fall underneath the trees for the remainder of the night. That wasn't related to the question, but knew that if they were to run into any werebears, it might serve to be a problem. "I don't think so," she eventually replied to Pinkie. "All of the components inside would get worn out too quickly. My guess is something we did downstairs triggered them."

As the other three moved on, so did she. Timing was everything; she released a breath she had been holding when her hooves landed in the next safe zone and she didn't have an arrow sticking out of her. "The more I think about it, the more worried I am that they have traps like this. This is some really advanced stuff."

"We're gettin' through it," AJ stated. "Can't be that great."

"What I mean is, what if this isn't _all_ that they've built?"

The librarian didn't get a response from any of them.

After exerting just about all of their sunlight, Rarity finally reached the last safe spot, which happened to be in the doorway leading to the staircase. Applejack, Pinkie, then Twilight all met her there safely. When they looked back, they saw that the arrows weren't about to stop because they had been beaten; if the group of ponies wanted to come back through this way, they would be retracing their very careful steps. With a glance of shared determination, they turned around and raced up one more flight of steps.

-**TRS**-

They were in a temple housed inside of a muggy jungle that was in one of the warmest parts of the world. As they reached the room before them, a chill crept down every one of their spines.

Four lit torches were hanging on the walls, two on each side. It looked like age had gotten to the ceiling, as there were a few holes in it that let fresh air inside. As it was so dark out, the pre-lit fire was still the only way to see. It was enough to illuminate the object of attention; sitting in the middle of the floor was an ancient altar. It looked like it was crafted with marble eons ago, only to fall victim to time's cruel effects. A short trio of steps led up to a main platform, where some sort of containment unit rested. Though weathered, the altar's solitary appearance was haunting.

The torches' light didn't extend to the near corners of the room, and did nothing to fend away darkness past the shrine. Three ponies wandered in without many nerves; a fourth swallowed that fear and charged up to the altar.

Twilight looked up through the missing patches of roof tiles. Pushed up against a pale purple sky, she could identify the outline of a familiar statue. "Girls, that's the werebear head that was on top of the tower. This must be the highest floor."

"No... no, no, no!"

The lavender unicorn took point in finding out what was troubling Pinkie. She traced her friend's steps up the stairs, trying hard not to look at the unsettling darkness waiting on just the opposite side. Pinkie didn't seem to mind it that much. She was more concerned with searching everywhere on the altar for something than she was anything else. Twilight had a feeling she could guess what that something was. "What's wrong, Pinkie?"

"Look, look!" She put her two front hooves up on the centerpiece. It almost looked like a table of sorts with a small concoction in the middle of it. The trinket had tiny marble arms extending upwards at an angle, unquestionably perfect for holding onto a small object of any shape. It was currently protecting the air rushing between its limbs. "The reverstone was right here! I know it!"

Twilight stared at the empty container trying as hard as she could to understand what Pinkie was feeling at that moment. Shock, frustration, maybe even denial. She had truly believed her goal was sitting in this exact spot waiting for her. It must have been crushing. Even the thought of gloating that she had been right all along made Twilight feel bad about herself. "Oh, Pinkie..."

"It still must be around here. Maybe it rolled off, or... or there's another puzzle we need to solve or something!"

"Pinkie, I don't think..."

Something made her stop that sentence prematurely. Nothing physical—it just simply didn't feel right finishing it.

Pinkie Pie glanced behind her. Rarity was standing near the entrance, uncomfortably watching the scene before her while knowing she could do nothing about it. Applejack's attention had been driven toward something on the wall. After confirming one of those two things, Pinkie laid her forehead on the table, covering her eyes up while leaving her mouth free to continue talking to Twilight. "This entire time," she started slowly, calmly... not very Pinkie-like, "I've been thinking of all the places I could go. We could go, if you wanted to. Like when Applejack and Rainbow Dash had that pie-eating contest. They were the best buds in the world that day... nothing like what happened on the way to Canterlot."

Twilight's mind couldn't help jerking towards the much more recent brawl she had caught the two in. Right now, she decided, was a horrible time to bring that up.

Disappointed. She was trapped in a world that, just minutes ago, she was getting ready to escape from. From Pinkie's perspective, the sadness made sense. For awhile, she said nothing more.

The other broke the silence that had come between them. She did it asking a question she should have asked a long ways back. "Why did you want to travel through time at all? Were you going to change something?" She gulped, fearing the answer to her next question. "Were you... really going to stay in the past?"

Pinkie shook her head no. It was a second before she elaborated any farther than that. "There's nothing at all I wanted to change. I don't think I would have stayed there forever, either. I would have missed present-me too much. And the reason I wanted to do it hasn't changed. I miss our friends."

"Pinkie..."

Twilight had a response to that completely lined up. It was just given to her. But before she could get it out in the open, a nervous-sounding southern accent called out to them. "Uh... Twi? Pinkie? Ya'll might wanna come here and tell the princess about _this._"

It was difficult not being frustrated at that. Twilight watched as Pinkie peeled her face off of the table, put on a half-hearted grin, and trotted down the stairs. Seeing the mare trying so hard to put on a brave smile in the face of personal devastation was almost painful. With some effort, she followed after her friend.

Applejack was standing next to one of the torches; it was an unsurprising discovery when Twilight noticed writing plastered on the walls up here, too. Rarity was also at the meeting spot, scanning over the message. That's when the purple unicorn discovered something unique about this writing: none of it was written in the foreign werebear language. As the two remaining mares approached, AJ began reading, using a hoof to follow along with the words she spoke.

"'Day... somethin' somethin'. The moment has come. Our wrath will be swift. Ponykind will fall this day.'"

Twilight stared at that "somethin' somethin'." The calculator in her brain was working overtime. She gasped when the calculator finally hit the equals button. "The 'day' is over _one-thousand_ years old! The first entry they made on all of these walls must have been before Nightmare Moon was banished!"

Applejack pulled her leg away from the wall. The group noticed the last two words were now somewhat smeared on the wall. Without thinking much about what it meant, the cowpony looked at the bottom of her hoof. An ink stain was seeping into her hoof.

Twilight watched that small area on AJ's hoof with saucer-sized eyes. By this time, her heart rate had already doubled. "Guys. This journal log was made _today._"

From inside the shadows on the distant side of the room came some clinking noises. After that, some grinding noises, like something was being turned to fit inside something else. Then, a _click._ Finally, a daunting pound. Another one. The first one shook the ground, and the second one quaked it. It was getting closer, but wouldn't be visible until it stepped onto the altar. The team of four equines stood side by side with one another, innumerable emotions running through each of them. An unlikely mix of fear and bravery were the prominent ones.

They needed it to step into the light. It obliged.

Twilight's gaze scanned continuously over the beast's form; it took several of those revolutions to finally realize what she was staring at. Werebears were already bigger than life, and this one was even bigger. It stood a full head taller than any other werebear they had come across. The species' physical traits were there: perfectly dark fur that shunned the firelight that was cast on it, terror-inducing red irises, and of course their massive girth. This one went out of his way to be slightly unique from his brethren, though. Unlike most others, he had no problems at all stamping on just two feet as he approached the group. More noticeably, a large mechanical contraption was attached to his backside. Details were hard to make out from the angle they faced him at, but it looked like it weighed a _ton._

Even more unsettling than that was what he carried with his two free legs. It was made from steel, long but thin. Capped at the open end of the tube was a head of what looked suspiciously like a miniature explosive rocket. The only thing Twilight felt he was missing was armor covering his entire body, rather than just that chest plate that the bulky machine was attached to. She gulped when she realized afterwards that he probably didn't need it.

"Let me correct you, _pony._" He hissed that word like it was poison. His voice wasn't much like Sam's, or any other werebear they had heard for that matter. It was booming. The sound penetrated the ponies' ears and refused to leave. "That was written just moments ago."

Rarity took a step backwards from intimidation alone. She didn't mean to do it, but couldn't stop herself in time. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I am** Leader**!" he roared, angered as if she wasn't supposed to ask that question. "I have seen werebears through one thousand years. You have trespassed on the day of your own demise."

Pinkie blinked. For now, at least, it appeared that the missing reverstone had been set in the back of her mind. Facing down a creature that was literally double their own size, Twilight could see why that had happened. "So... You just sit up here waiting for ponies to bug you?"

Leader breathed heavily. Then again. He was practically frothing at the mouth by the time he finally responded. "Allow me to inform you, _ponies._ Do you know what the letters on the statues downstairs stand for?"

Twilight and Applejack were on the same wavelength. Both of them crouched down. If a fight was going to break out, it was going to happen soon.

The werebear king tapped a series of buttons on the metal harness over his chest. _Putt-putt-putt._ The machine on his back stuttered, then surged to life. A fan inside must have been spinning around hundreds of times a second judging solely on the sound it was making. Things started getting loud, but his voice had no problems reaching over it. "The sign on the statue says, 'werebear.' Can't you guess what the opposite, the _reverse_ is?"

The fan moved from hundreds of revolutions to _thousands._ Smoke began pouring out from the contraption's exhaust. A moment after that, a huge rush of boiling hot air followed it. Dust that had laid on the altar vanished near instantly. Leader's two grounded feet slowly lifted from the ground, and Twilight instantly realized what the machine was for.

Within little time at all, Leader was hovering two meters from the ground. That gave him an even more central point in the room in which to echo his own thundering voice. "The opposite of werebear is death!"

He lifted up the weapon in his arms. Looking through the reverse end of the attached scope showed the ponies they were being watched by a single red eye. The amount of ease in which he wielded the toy with was near unbelievable. Without even showing something that could be mistaken as hesitancy, Leader pushed down on the trigger with his claw.

The capsule at the end of the weapon was released at an incredible velocity. Twilight, and undoubtedly every one of her friends, looked on in paralyzing fear as a homemade rocket flew straight toward them.


	15. Follow the Leader

Twilight winced. Her eyes slammed shut. A thousand thoughts went through her mind in the course of less than a second. She got somewhat nostalgic for the sand tornado back at the start of their quest. Both times ended with something wanting to ruin her day. Except this time, there was no rope to hold onto. Poor Spike never got his amethyst dinner. And if that rocket exploded—_when_ it exploded—there wouldn't be anything left of them for Rainbow or Fluttershy to remember them by.

She didn't have time to consult with her friends. It did explode. When it did, Twilight felt no pain at all. If this was the end, it had come swiftly and without anguish. She was grateful for that.

But then curiosity got the best of her. Why exactly did she have the need to cough so badly?

She was daring enough to open her eyes, not immediately realizing she should have been too dead to have that option. The room before her eyes had changed drastically. The altar, Leader, or even any of the torches weren't in sight. Everything was veiled by a thick haze, impenetrable by pony eyes. The entire room had been doused with smoke.

The turn of events caught up with her friends at that moment as well. They began wheezing, trying to expel from their mouths smoke and the fumes that went along with it.

"Is everyone all right?!" Twilight shouted over the panic.

"Where'd he go?" was Pinkie's response, her voice muffled by the hoof she had placed in front of her face.

A stream of warm air passed directly over Twilight's head, blowing her mane around in all possible directions. The fact that that didn't do a very good job at clearing the area of smoke let her know just how much of the stuff had been in that fake missile. She came to the conclusion that it was Leader flying straight over the group. Unfortunately, she couldn't voice the discovery before a different pony found out about it the harder way.

There was a loud-pitched squeal. Right after that, both the sound of the jetpack's motor and the screaming began fading away downstairs. Twilight's visual was near nothing, but she could guess what was happening. "Pinkie!"

"I can't see anythin', Twi!" Applejack yelled, evidently still having trouble breathing. "What happened to Pinkie?!"

"Leader got her! He's heading down the stairs. We've got to head after him!"

AJ turned herself around, still hacking, but determined. "Yer darn tootin' we are! C'mon, Rarity!"

Three sets of hooves poured out of the room they had worked so hard to reach. Smog had even started billowing down the pathway, making traversing stairs rather dangerous in its own right. It was a necessary evil, however. Soon, they regained their sight. Not long after that, they found themselves in a room too familiar—that dreaded arrow room. Leader was waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase, just before reaching any of the still-flying miniature spears. He held his rocket launcher in his left foreleg, and Pinkie's tail in the other. The mare was dangling upside down, her two front legs crossed in frustration.

"Boy, if I had a nickel for every time _this_ has happened..." she moaned.

The Element of Generosity was the first to move forward. "We must insist that you put her down this instant, you bully. Kidnapping a lady is in _horrible_ taste."

The werebear held out the paw that was gripping Pinkie, showing her off like a brand new toy. She remained entirely unamused, if not somehow unconcerned. "We will trample through Ponyville on our way to Canterlot. This single pony's life means nothing."

Forfeiting a fine opportunity to hurl another smoke-rocket, Leader used his jetpack to bolt forward, through the swarm of arrows. A few of them bounced off of the machine's metal plating, while a couple more struck him directly; he showed no signs of noticing either one of those things. Pinkie Pie, however, wasn't as invulnerable, and Twilight knew it. The librarian watched her friend closely with bated breath. An arrow drove a solid line from one side of her mane to the other. The poor lock was pierced, but luckily, Pinkie wasn't.

Both of them made it past the entirety of the traps, but they never stopped. There was a large broken wall sitting on the opposite side of the room waiting for them, and with a fully functioning jetpack, it would make just as good of an exit as the actual entrance did. Night was beginning to arrive in full force, so Pinkie and her captor vanished from sight as soon as they left the building.

"What're we supposed to do now?" Applejack wondered, sounding impatient.

Rarity readily responded, "Stop him from destroying Ponyville, that's what."

"That too, but I meant a lil' more immediately. We can't waste time duckin' around a hundred o' these arrows!"

"Applejack's right," Twilight spoke up. She gulped as she regretted the words she was about to say before they even left her mouth. "We can't go around them... so we'll need to go through them. You two stay close to me, all right?"

Before letting them respond, Twilight's horn lit up. At first, it was a misguided spark or two; with just a little concentration, a pinkish-purple bubble enveloped her and her friends. Being on the compact side of things, it wasn't made with comfort in mind, but it should do its job just fine. The three would be able to walk through the barrage of arrows with the shield taking every hit for them.

The other two nodded at one another. They seemed leery about their unicorn friend's safety, but resisting the temptation of an expressway to the exit was difficult. Huddled close together side by side, the trio started off.

Most forms of magic were simple. Casting light or levitating something were almost built-in tricks for unicorns. Harder spells—such as teleportation—took more effort, but their results were usually instantaneous. A shield like the one they were using had the worst effects of both. Not only was it draining to summon the object in the first place, it was necessary to keep it active while it took speedy arrows from close to every single direction. Failing meant the entire party gets painfully pinned to a wall. No matter how much strain Twilight found herself under, she wasn't going to let that happen.

It seemed like whenever they blocked an arrow from reaching its destination, the technology involved recognized it and shot two more arrows to take its place. Twilight couldn't tell if that was just her imagination or not. After only a few steps, she could already feel exhaustion seeping into her. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, now concentrating on nothing except getting them safely across this floor.

"Keep it goin', Twi..." Applejack muttered.

Rarity whispered, "Stay strong, darling, we've almost made it."

She wished they wouldn't stop encouraging her. It made the trip much easier.

Struggling, Twilight began panting from her magical endeavor. As much as she wanted to deny it, she knew that her magic was going to give out before much longer. But it _couldn't._ And before it did, she felt a different sensation on the side of her neck. It was a hoof, placed there gently. Then she felt the same thing on the opposite side.

Twilight wasn't about to stop trusting her friends now. At their cue, she opened her eyes. Whether she wanted it to or not, the protective bubble vanished in an instant. She was relieved beyond words even her vocabulary could come up with to see that they had made it to a safe zone. Specifically, the safe zone right in front of the exit.

While the unicorn was given a moment to rest up, the three of them peered out the broken wall Leader and Pinkie had exited through. They weren't about to survive a jump down from here, so they would just need to descend the way that they came from. Twilight thought she had seen the moon's reflection on Leader's jetpack as they entered the In Snare forest, but she was too exhausted to be able to confirm it. It didn't matter. They weren't nearly close enough to put a stop to all of this.

"Come on, girls." Twilight wanted to stay here and rest a little more. She knew, however, there was no realistic chance of that happening. "We got some work to do."

-**TRS**-

There was no questioning that it was dark out, but if one stood in the right spots, things could still be visible. Nowhere in the In Snare Jungle was a "right spot."

Since there was so little to do about it, Pinkie merely hung around as Leader carried her through the wooded area. She had to work extra hard just to get a hit in on Sam when they were having a fair fight; trying to struggle against someone bigger and much meaner than the other werebear was potentially suicidal. She couldn't see a thing, apart from when Leader's jetpack flared up to increase his altitude, which gave her a short spark of fire to gaze at. At least the werebear had good enough eyesight to see in the dark so they wouldn't crash. Her hearing was getting damaged, too. Every dozen seconds, Leader would howl, "**We attack tonight!**" undoubtedly grabbing the attention of every single werebear in the forest.

The pony wasn't positive where she was being taken, but she thought this was the direction Zebrica was in. That could be tragic. "Where are we going?" she inquired just as Leader opened his muzzle to sound the alarm again.

"Zebrica, _pony,_" he hissed back.

Yep. That could be tragic. It was bad enough that she had missed out on the reverstone—the _entire point_ of this quest—and she wasn't about to deal with violence to boot. "You better not even touch a stripe on any of them! They let you live peacefully in this jungle right next to them for a bajillion years! If you got a problem with ponies, fine, but leave— "

"Do not insult us," he said, though he didn't really sound that insulted. He sounded more like he was glad he could finally vent to somebody. "Werebears will seize the world. Equestria is only our first goal. Whether Zebrica falls first or last is hardly important."

Pinkie took a moment to let that sink in. "But... I don't get it." She made a gesture to her entire surroundings. "You guys have a pretty sweet pad here! Imagine all the tree houses you could make! What do you need world domination for?"

"We are second to none!" he shouted, regaining some of his characteristic anger. "We shall be treated as such!"

"Oh..." mumbled Pinkie, though it might not have even made it over the roar of the jetpack.

"We have waited over a thousand years for this moment," he went on, "and we wait no longer."

Suddenly, Leader raised his right foreleg up. That was most noticeable, as Pinkie's tail was still clamped inside of that claw. He swung the ligament downwards and released her at an angle, dropping her hard on the ground.

Pinkie rolled over twice. Her hind leg and her side (the same one Sam had gotten to) took the most pain from that throw, but she still managed to stop her momentum before tumbling any farther. She immediately realized that the grass she was hurled onto wasn't nearly as tall as it should have been; looking around, she realized that they had made it out of the pitch-black jungle. They had made it to Zebrica's main city. And the hard part was just about to start.

Evidently, their entrance had been a terrible sneak attack. Though between the buzz of the jetpack and Leader shouting every other word, that wasn't very surprising. Rainbow Dash, Muzzo, and a couple other bulky zebras were taking their last steps (or in Dashie's case, last wing flaps) to meet up with them. Seeing that she still hadn't gotten to her feet yet, Rainbow slid in front of her fallen comrade in the defense of her.

"What is the meaning of this?" Muzzo demanded to know, making direct eye contact with Leader. The striped creature was unmoved by the bear's intimidating form.

"Tonight," Leader began, "the werebears challenge the world. If they don't come to us, we will come to them. We start with Zebrica."

If it was possible, Muzzo took that explanation and... became calmer. He didn't speak as loud in reply, but his words were much clearer. "You are a proud fool. Zebras have allowed you to live here in peace and privacy for many generations. We were never allies, but if you wish to finally become enemies this night, we will make it so."

Something about that seemed to make Leader fume. There was a _clink_ as the werebear's razor-like nail slid onto the trigger of his rocket launcher. "_Allowed us?!_ Be grateful we did not destroy your kind centuries ago, _zebra!_"

That might have continued, but Pinkie stopped paying attention to it if it did. Seeing that apparently the attack wasn't going to be immediate, Dash turned around to inspect the damage. Pinkie was offered a blue hoof and a small smile. "You okay, Pinkie?"

The cyan fur got blended with pink as the earth pony accepted the help up. She got to three and a half legs—it wasn't broken or anything, but she would need to be careful with the hind leg that she had landed on. "I-I'll be okay. The others are coming, too. I just took a shortcut." She didn't want to show any weakness—not in front of the super cool Rainbow Dash—which made her feel even worse when she habitually put some weight on that leg. She cringed and muttered, "Owie..."

If she noticed, she didn't care. The pegasus turned around to glare at Leader, though she continued talking only to Pinkie. "I don't know what this guy's beef is, but I don't like him already. He even has to use some crazy contraption just to fly! Err, no offense, Pinkie."

"None taken!" she jubilantly responded.

"Besides, I don't see much of an army backing him up. If he thinks he can take—"

Rainbow prematurely cut her own sentence off when there was some rustling behind that bush over there. A paw broke out from it, then another one, and then a head... Another body appeared from behind that tree way over there. A third from that small clearing there. All of them were oversized black-furred bears. Not quite as giant as the jetpack guy here, but they made a good effort.

"... All right, he's got a small army. I'm still not impressed though."

"First, Zebrica," Leader stated. "Then Equestria."

Rainbow Dash immediately took action. She sprung off of the ground, building up plenty of momentum to launch herself at the hovering bear. "You psychos aren't going anywhere near Eques—"

Her sentence got lost when Leader swung his arm around. He looked entirely unfazed by the assault; it was stopped early when the back of his claw struck Rainbow's skull, anyway. She got swatted away and stumbled through the air, but recovered in time to land on her hooves. Still, she had barely gotten Leader's attention with that, much less hurting him any.

With no more words exchanged, Leader began flying away from the small group. He was heading towards the town, and all of his werebear squadron—few in numbers, but not lacking in bloodlust—followed him. Both of the unfamiliar, bulky zebras galloped ahead of them, likely to go warn their friends and family. The leader of the zebras turned to follow them, but stopped when his name was called.

The three left in the location turned back to the In Snare Jungle. A small team consisting of three ponies were rushing out from the brush and towards them, clearly exhausted, but keeping pace the best they could. Twilight looked the most tired of all, which worried Pinkie, but the other insisted on getting the first word in.

"Muzzo..." she panted. She looked up to the tall zebra in what looked like both physical and emotional pain. "I'm... We're so sorry. We didn't know they would attack Zebrica—"

Muzzo turned his back to her. At the angle she was at, Pinkie was the only one able to see his expression. It was unreadable. "It is not your fault, Twilight Sparkle. You were only doing what you were told to do by your princess. Now, you must excuse me. I must defend my tribe."

It must have been a habit. With everyone else gone, the group of friends wasted no time in turning to Twilight Sparkle. She was practically the Freddy of the group of them, after all. If anyone had a plan, it was her. The librarian, however, wasn't the first to get any words out.

"We _are_ going to crush these guys, right?" Rainbow asked, using a tone that was almost daring anyone to tell her otherwise.

"O' course we are," replied Applejack in what must have been the first agreement with RD in a month.

Rarity spoke next. She heavily disliked fighting, but she sounded as though she had completely accepted that it was going to be inevitable. "At least, we're going to try. Isn't that the plan, Twilight?"

The purple mare gave herself one more moment before answering. "We're the reason this town is in trouble in the first place, so we're definitely going to do anything we can. Rainbow Dash, can you go make sure Fluttershy knows what's going on?"

Dashie hardly looked bothered at all by the rejection Leader had given her earlier. She dug her hooves into the ground, then barely managed to shout "On it!" before bouncing up and ripping through the sky.

"Pinkie Pie, I think that you and I should try to keep Leader distracted. Are you with me?"

Being faced with a mission of such importance was a great way to get revitalized. Pinkie's expression became one of determination. "Just call me Daphne!"

That earned her, for a long moment, three quizzical stares. Applejack opened her mouth during that time, but shut it without having said a word. Finally, Twilight broke the spell of silence and turned to the last two ponies. "... A-anyway. You two know what to do. Make sure everyone is safe. Don't let these monsters have their way!"

"We'll do our best," Rarity said. She proceeded to follow after Applejack, who had already started on a run towards the oppressed town.

Lastly, Twilight turned to her own partner. She must have caught sight of the babying Pinkie was doing to her hind leg, as she stared straight at it. "It's imperative that we stop as many of those smoke rockets as we can," she said, her eyes still on that leg. "Will you be okay? You look hurt."

"I'm fine," Pinkie stated, daring enough to wiggle the leg somewhat to prove her point. It hurt, somewhat, but the mare had an escape plan from the topic anyway. "Hey, Twilight, I had a think."

"A thought, Pinkie," she corrected. "What is it?"

Unbothered by the assault on her grammar, Pinkie went on, "What if the werebears' weakness has something to do with reverse?"

"Like... kicking their butts?"

"Sort of, yeah."

Twilight tapped on her chin in thought, but soon shook it to the back of her mind with a rattle of the head. "It's worth keeping in mind, but we'll need to work on it as we go. We got to put a stop to this!"

The pair of them raced off. Pinkie wasn't able to keep up as well as she would have liked, but nothing could be done about that. Twilight, perhaps somewhat worried, compensated for her. This fight was going to be dangerous, but it was a worthy cause. Maybe she couldn't have the reverstone, but Pinkie wasn't about to let a swarm of bullies get their way.


	16. Never Play Dead, Part 1

It was both a positive and negative thing that this oppressed land was on the smaller side of things. From way up in the sky, it was easy enough to make a size comparison to Ponyville. The pros and cons were obvious, of course. The smaller a place is, the less that needs defending... and the more central focus that the attackers use. Despite itself, the situation didn't seem all that bad. There were maybe a half dozen or so of those werebear guys, plus Rocket Man back there. That'd be about one for each of her friends to take down. Well, Fluttershy might not, but that was fine. Rainbow could take her bear on at the same time, no sweat. That wasn't even accounting for the zebras that were rushing into defensive positions. How tough could those werebears be when they're surrounded at least two-to-one?

Rainbow Dash was anything but a local around these parts. From up here, almost everything looked the same. Straw roofs on top of way old-school buildings, and all of the dust, dirt, and sand that zebras called a ground. Some of the locals were setting torches outside of their homes to combat the night. Whether that was despite the incoming invasion or because of it, Rainbow wasn't sure. Before long, she found the shelter she was searching for. She spent so long in there taking care of that _stupid_ weasel or whatever it was, she could recognize the building from anywhere.

A hasty descent was made. The enemies she saw back there didn't seem to be in much of a rush to get here (not that they could out-speed Dash anyway), but the sooner she reached Fluttershy, the sooner she could calm her down from the panic attack she was about to have. Strangely, it was dark all around the hospital, though there was illumination coming from within it. At least nothing had happened to her after Rainbow went to investigate all of that noise.

The sky blue pegasus touched down to earth a few yards away from the health center. As she was running in from the side, she couldn't see into the doorway. That didn't discourage her very much from yelling. "Hey, Fluttershy! Is there a lock on this place or something? We got a problem out—"

Her strong voice was drowned out by an even louder growl. Odd. RD was pretty sure that _she_ didn't make that noise. And Fluttershy couldn't get her voice to sound like that if she tried. And Rainbow had dared her once to try. More logically, it was easier to know it wasn't either of them by the fact that it had been roared from behind her.

Rainbow could barely twist her neck around in time, meaning she was hardly in a position to defend herself. A werebear lurked directly in the shadows behind the pegasus. He drew his paw far back, then launched it all at once in a painful palm strike. It connected with Dash straight in her face, shoving her to the ground. The attack had struck with such force that Rainbow toppled over herself all the way to the complete opposite side of the hospital's doorway.

She laid there on the ground for a moment, doing nothing but recollecting her thoughts. When enough of her wit returned to realize that the shaking ground around her was _not_ a good thing, Dash hopped to her hooves as quickly as she could, using her wings to help her get there. The werebear stopped stomping toward her after she rose. Both of them were on either side of the hospital's door frame, lit up only by what little illumination escaped the place. Dash hated this situation already. There were defenseless patients in there. Heck, the _doctor_ was defenseless. She had to get this guy away from this place somehow.

"How did you get here so fast?!" she shouted, that thought also having been on her mind.

"Like you." Rainbow Dash gulped when that voice spoke. This he was a _she._ The sound barely even matched the grunt from before—while not girly, it was respectfully feminine. Even more respectful than that, it was dangerous. "I moved fast."

Rainbow showed her appreciation of the response with a snarl. She bolted forward, barely hovering off the ground to obtain maximum speed. Once at her target, she did an instant 180, then fired her two hind legs straight at it. The werebear didn't block, and she certainly didn't evade. The kicks struck her dead-on... and Rainbow came out of it convinced that she had hurt herself doing that more than her opponent. Having not even flinched, the monster swatted Dash down to the ground with her paw before she could escape.

After the pegasus had become acquainted with the floor once again, the enemy—whom Dash had already dubbed Miss Cockypants—took a leap into the air. She was intent on coming down right on Rainbow, leaving the mare to have a quick flashback. If she traded the black fur for orange and threw on a cowboy hat (and maybe lost a couple hundred pounds), she'd have sworn she was back to fighting against Applejack just a few hours ago. For whatever reason everyone kept trying this against her, Rainbow wasn't going to let it succeed this time, either. She rolled to her left, using a single wing to give her the extra bit of strength she needed. Sure, the werebear was heavier than her last rival, so she crashed faster, but that only made the dodge look even cooler, as far as Rainbow was concerned. Cockypants landed on her feet, and Rainbow quickly met her there.

"I don't know what the deal is with you guys, but you're making me mad!" the pony declared, flexing both of her wings. "This little gang of yours will never make it out of Zebrica, so you can forget about touching Ponyville!"

The oversized creature standing before her smirked. That, admittedly, was a _little_ on the scary side. She made a slash attempt with her claw, but Rainbow was ready.

It was the pony's turn to make a small hop into the air. Gravity had its way, forcing her to fall back down right on top of her enemy's outstretched arm. That was enough to set the brute off balance. Accomplishing that, RD jumped forward. She reached the werebear's backside, but didn't stay there long. Rainbow performed a cartwheel straight across the bulky back. Now on the other side of a confused enemy, the pegasus thought she should try bucking her one more time.

Unfortunately, it didn't end much better than last time. Her enemy may have been confused or even frustrated, but she was still a werebear. The blow did almost nothing to her. At least, apart from giving her another grand shot at Rainbow Dash.

A claw wrapped itself around the flying pony's neck and slammed her into the ground. After the third time, Rainbow figured out that it was some sort of annoying running gag that she kept eating dirt. This time varied, however, in that she didn't stay there for long. The werebear's grip never ceased, and before she realized it, RD was hovering above the ground without moving her wings. She reluctantly found the paw still clinging to her throat, and the werebear in front of her standing up on two legs. Once they made eye contact, Dash couldn't find a way to escape it.

"You're just being silly if you think this is all of us," she finally replied to Rainbow's statement. "This is all of us left in _Zebrica_. Leader will alert the others all around the world. Including your Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash wanted to dare her to say that again. And she would have too, but her vision was currently turning black around the corners and it was distracting her. She tried focusing on the red irises that were glaring back at her, but even they were turning into a blurry stop light more than anything else. She spotted some unclear shadow moving across the light coming from within the hospital. It meant nothing to her.

Right up until the werebear unexpectedly released her grip.

Rainbow fell down to the ground, hacking wildly in a desperate attempt to regain air that she hadn't breathed in for about twenty seconds. When just enough of her consciousness returned, the mare glanced up to see her enemy standing in roughly the same position she had been in. Still, not about to take any chances, Rainbow stumbled backwards and away from her immediate grasp.

In between fits of coughing, Rainbow managed to pick out the meekest voice she had ever heard in her life. It was coming from the opposite side of the werebear, directly in front of the hospital. "Oh, my! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you! It's just, please don't choke my friends to death like that. It's not, um... nice."

Recovering, Dash took to the air and flew over the werebear's head. She landed right next to her butter-colored friend. The werebear that stood in front of them had a large hypodermic needle sticking out of somewhere she _probably_ didn't want it to be. Despite how close she had been to knocking at death's door, Rainbow couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. She became serious, however, when she turned to her ally. "Another minute, and she'd be picking multicolored hair out of her teeth. I owe you one, Fluttershy."

The other pegasus turned to, and lightly pounded at the ground beneath her. Though it was reserved, like anything that pony did, Rainbow caught a smile of self-satisfaction on Fluttershy's face. She took that as her own "You're welcome" for the time being. The werebear seemed to be getting back into the game.

The large creature brushed the sharp object away from her hindquarters, then proceeded to shake the earth by bringing down her other two legs. She looked infuriated. That made Rainbow grin. "I'm sensing hostility. Want to talk about it?"

_Whoosh. Whish. _A flurry of swipes were launched at her from nearly every direction that could be managed, and Rainbow Dash sidestepped all of them. Flapping her wings, lowering her altitude, even hitting the ground and ducking—she did anything to get out of the way, all while slowly moving backwards. The werebear relentlessly followed after her, determined more than anything to ruin Dash's day. So determined, she didn't notice as she stepped over a shivering ball of yellow and pink.

"Now, Fluttershy!"

There was a moment between the order being given and it being completed. Luckily, RD had prepared for that and measured distance accordingly. With what appeared to be nothing but hesitance and fear, something uncurled itself from beneath the werebear. That was followed by a mighty kick that, with a beneficial wind, could potentially knock over a thin sheet of plastic. Rainbow groaned and nearly smacked her forehead with a hoof, but the results were too shocking for that.

It was to be expected that the yellow pegasus zipped away from her unsafe position as quickly as she was able to. Conversely, their opponent not only didn't move, but collapsed where she stood. She tried pushing herself back up, but it was awkward and ended with her falling back to the ground. Her breathing rate had doubled from just before that. Rainbow stood there, half amazed, half insulted. _She'd_ tried bucking that thing twice with all she had, and it didn't even make her flinch. _Fluttershy_ barely puts her hooves on it, and the bear's legs bottom out.

"I'm so sorry..." mumbled Fluttershy, looking truly ashamed of herself. "I didn't mean to use that much force..."

Rainbow gaped at her friend, but jerked her head back when Cockypants spoke up. Judging by her response, she hadn't even heard Fluttershy's words. "They know..." she muttered. Then, a booming repeat: "**They know!**"

Her voice must have echoed around the entire city without a problem. Fluttershy gave a noticeable whimper, no doubt reeling from the scream, but the other thought nothing of it. "What do we know? I don't know what we know! The only thing we found out is that Fluttershy couldn't kick anything to save her life, and we already knew—!" Rainbow Dash let her sentence drift off. The werebear got back to shaky feet while the pegasus connected all of the wires in her head. After several moments (probably a few more than it should have taken her, but at least Twilight wasn't around to yell at her about it), the light bulb clicked on. "Wait, is your stomach some kind of weak—"

She didn't bother finishing her question. The pained expression on the werebear's face had already given her the answer. "Ooh..." Rainbow gave a wide smirk. "Why didn't you just say so?"

-**TRS**-

"Shoot, kid, get outta here!"

"Applejack! Don't be so rude!"

Things could have been going better, really. There had been a tight circle of zebras, huddled around one another in some attempt to instill confidence in each other. It was only natural, then, that a pair of lumbering werebears had stumbled toward them. They didn't have much time to experiment, but the werebears remained unmoved by anything the pair of ponies tried. So, they had resorted to a spontaneous plan B: evacuating everyone. Several bulkier zebras were able to lead one bear away from them, which was of much help. It was Rarity's job to see all the not as brave striped folks got away safely, all while Applejack did something that resembled distracting the enemy. That mostly consisted of getting beat around by it.

Every local zebra had ran away to a different spot to hide with the exception of one. He was a small guy. Not a baby, but old enough to think on his own. Rarity had tried her best to get him to move, which she never actually succeeded at. Rather, _finally_, an older female zebra ran by to pick him up. There was no time for background checks—AJ needed backup, whether it was from the world's fussiest pony or not.

The farmer forced herself to climb to her hooves. Fall down two times, get up three, she always told herself. Though, she was pretty sure the count was closer to ten by now. She was sweaty, exhausted, and discouraged. Nothing she tried had the slightest effect on the werebear. Every time something didn't work, she usually found herself sliding across dirt with a new bruise somewhere. This was all on top of still feeling the fight with Rainbow Dash earlier, not to mention a full gallop through the entire In Snare Jungle. She hadn't had as active a day as this one since Apple Bloom was convinced she was destined to be a racer. "Pardon if my fuse is a lil' short, Rarity. While you've been baby-talkin' to foals, I've been gettin' thrashed over here."

"Hmph. Well, I'm here now." She strutted closer to the brawl. The werebear watched in mild curiosity, while Applejack barely stopped herself before rolling her eyes. "So, what's the plan?"

"Plan? Plan?!" AJ stomped a hoof on the ground. "If I had a _plan_, my ears wouldn't be ringin' right now! Can't you use yer magic and zap 'im or something?"

She perhaps didn't realize she had said something useful in there. Not about hitting him, of course. Even if she did have Twilight's range of magical powers, ladies do not simply "zap" anything. She might not be able to light herself on fire, as Pinkie had shared with her that Twilight had done before they had met up, but Rarity wasn't without her own talents. "Keep him still," she muttered low in an attempt to hide the command from prying werebears' ears.

"That ain't funny," replied Applejack, despite already shuffling a hoof across the ground in a threatened charge.

Whatever it was the cowpony planned on getting out of that, the more realistic outcome came to be. When she got near, the werebear swatted her away. That not only shoved her to the ground _again,_ it meant that nothing was in his way of the magic user. Rarity's horn was glowing as she concentrated; she had no way of seeing the encroaching enemy. By the time Applejack rushed to her hooves and got the first syllable of her friend's name out, the werebear was there. He took his two front paws and smashed them on either side of the unicorn's head. Completely stunned by being in the middle of a hulking clap, Rarity stumbled backwards, unknowingly somehow staying on all fours. The enemy, meanwhile, showed his first sign of having a personality. He laughed a loud, hearty laugh, like he had just watched someone slip on a banana peel in an old cartoon. He sounded old—relatively, at least, since those journal entries hinted that they were already over a thousand years old—but still full of life. Too much life.

"Amusement, I say!" he managed to squeeze out between fits of laughter.

That wasn't the exact word Applejack wanted to use. She wasn't even positive if Rarity was still conscious after that, but she sure had to hope so. Bolting forward, AJ reached the backside of her opponent, which was a new situation. She decided to make the most of it. Not releasing any of her momentum, the earth pony made a jump and landed squarely on the unsuspecting werebear's back. She gulped upon realizing just how much leg room there was up there. It was difficult to fully respect the size of a werebear until one was literally standing on top of one. She wasn't sure how long she could stay on top of him like that, which only made her move faster. "Stay with me, Rarity!"

For just a short moment, Applejack felt a rush of relief. For the first time since she had been nailed, Rarity blinked. She shook her head too, but that was when AJ lost sight of her. The old werebear stood up on two legs; with nothing to grip onto, she slid off of him and crashed painfully on the ground.

He turned his attention from the snow-colored pony to the orange one. Still he remained towering over both of them on his hind legs. Applejack wasn't getting any less exhausted. Instead of trying to evade the inevitable pounding, she merely braced herself for the onslaught. Her tactic changed severely, however, when a command from the sidelines was issued.

"Applejack, kick him! Now!"

To be honest, it didn't seem like the situation could get much worse, so it was certainly worth a try. Mustering up any strength reserves she could find, Applejack used her achy hind legs to attack as hard as she could. Lying uncomfortably on the floor wasn't doing her any favors, but the situation was what it was.

The results were what surprised her the most. Her legs sunk into the werebear's exposed belly far more than any other attempt she had made, and it showed impressively. The enemy crumpled for just a moment before falling forward. Finding a sudden burst of willpower, AJ rolled to the side to avoid being flattened.

She laid there a moment longer, panting. At first, she was watching the motionless werebear. Eventually, her gaze turned to the dirt right beneath her face as she started recovering from the ordeal. When she spotted a white hoof being offered to her, she gave a weak smile to its owner before grabbing it and being lifted up.

"How did you know...?"

Letting go of Applejack's hoof, Rarity immediately dusted off her own where a little dirt had gotten on it. It was an automatic process for her, though—she wasn't really paying attention to doing it. "I use my magic to find things out of the ordinary all the time," she answered. Applejack allowed herself to assume she was referring to those gemstones she had barrels of. "Everything around the monster's chest looked so fragile. It stood out to me plain as day. I was going to tell you of it sooner, but that's when it felt like my head got punted."

AJ offered a dry chuckle. "Sorry 'bout that."

_Sniff. Sniff._ At first, it sounded like Rarity was crying. That, Applejack was able to decide moments later, would have been a better alternative. Still picking at the air with her nose, Rarity wondered aloud, "Do you smell... smoke?"

It was dark out. That tended to happen during the night. Regardless, they were fairly well illuminated by various torches scattered around them. That only made it easier to confirm that something was wrong when they began to lose visual on those very sources of light. First, a couple flames that were a short distance away disappeared. Then it began getting nearer than that. "It" was a tidal wave of black fog, originating in the middle of town and spreading out across every direction from there.

"Shoot," muttered Applejack.

Rarity gasped. "That must be from Leader's cannon! But what about Pinkie Pie and Twili—"

The incoming gaseous assault was moving in even faster than it looked. It swamped the two ponies and werebear alike, suffocating Rarity too much for her to finish her question. Now blinded, both ponies tried coughing the smoke from their lungs. Having barely had any time to catch her breath from the fight, so much wheezing made Applejack's chest hurt almost as much as her head already was. Things only got worse when they were alerted to a sound directly next to them.

"Ah, Leader, always coming through..."

The werebear was up. Not only that, but he was making noises. Shuffling noises. Applejack ignored her body's desperate plea for air for a moment to concentrate. "Diggin'..." she said. Though her word came out sounding unsure, she was positive of it. For as many times as she caught her pet dog creating dirt holes all over Sweet Apple Acres, she had better recognize that sound. "He's diggin' underground, Rarity!"

_Cough cough cough._ "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"You detected his weak spot once!" AJ barked in reply, perhaps slightly angrier than she meant it. "Find 'im again!"

She couldn't even see her own hoof in front of her face, so she had no idea whether Rarity took the suggestion or not. All she did know was that there was a sound unmistakable in origin: the werebear had surfaced. The sound had come from over there, right next to Rarity. Of course it had.

With a scream of anguish, it was clear Rarity hadn't been able to dodge whatever the werebear had just thrown at her. Her body scraped against the ground in her slide, kicking up dust and dirt that fused rather well with the persistent cloud of smoke. Nothing fatal had been done, or there wouldn't be grumbling coming from her direction. The werebear, meanwhile, gave another joyous bellow. It sounded moderately pained, but he was still somehow enjoying the fight. Applejack shared neither one of their traits. She was just downright frustrated. "_Why_ do you keep pickin' on Rarity? I'm sittin' right here too, y'know!"

He didn't stop laughing. "But she doesn't mindlessly throw herself at me like you do!" he stated with another uproar.

Applejack growled. She knew that, if she was paying attention, the unicorn would no doubt take that as some sort of compliment. For the sake of her own blood pressure, she decided to change topics. "What is it you overgrown pups want, anyways? This some sort of power trip o' yours?"

"Me?" He was climbing out of the hole. Not that he could be seen, of course, but the tremors he was causing by moving his legs helped give his position away. "I want to achieve what this life is for. To laugh, and be merry. You ponies are the most entertainment I've had in such a long time. With me, my dear, it's nothing personal. Just... laughter."

Where were they supposed to go from here? The smoke sure wasn't clearing up any, and Applejack was growing tired of talking. Especially with this character. He did an excellent job of making Pinkie look sane by comparison. She was an odd one, but at least she didn't get her jollies by invading countries. The answer to the cowpony's question came from an unexpected source: Rarity. However, she seemed to be struggling with something, and she also seemed to be continuing a conversation no one else had participated in. "Eat your... heart out, Twilight."

After that, there was a glow strong enough to pierce the veil of smoke. A thin pillar of light aimed straight up. That, however, wasn't the main attraction. After just a moment, a startling explosion of wind burst out from the base of the light. An almost instant casualty was Applejack's hat. She made a mental note of the direction it had been blown in for later. Following that was its likely intended effect: the entirety of the smoke in the immediate area was banished, forced away in all directions. Their personal arena was now fog-free and also lit up by several torches that had survived the one-off gust.

Applejack looked at Rarity. One whole side of her coat was heavily dirtied. The same side of her face bore a few scratches, either from the impact or the ride itself. The next thing noticed was her horn—it was still glowing with its blue aura. Just a short distance beneath that was a smirk so sly, only Rarity could pull it off to such success.

The earth pony's attention returned forward. The werebear still seemed stunned by Rarity's antics. A gift even better than that was right in front of her. Half a dozen decently-sized rocks were suspended in the air, held there by the same-colored magic that her friend was emanating. The hint was quickly taken.

Applejack spun herself around halfway. Now in her so familiar bucking position, she set off to work. One by one, she kicked the stones being held for her straight out of Rarity's magical grasp using no less force than when hitting full-grown trees. The pebbles went sailing, all of them accurately hitting their mark. The first couple nailed the unprepared werebear's front legs, stinging him enough to force him into relying on his hind appendages. It didn't even matter where the others hit. All the farmer knew was that one of them had conked the creature on his noggin, which was bound to rattle his cage enough.

Shifting gears, she ran forward. She only had a few steps to gain momentum, and she took the most from the opportunity that she could. Before long, she reached the werebear, propped up on two legs and too stunned to pay attention to her. Applejack twirled around one more time and put everything she had into launching her two back hooves into the werebear's gut. She wasn't half-unconscious and resting on the ground this time. Any ounce of force she could manage barreled straight into the belly of the beast.

Her hooves sank into the vulnerable underside, just like they had before. The difference this time was a distinct _crack_ that echoed from somewhere within the werebear's body. His eyes were the size of saucers, but Applejack didn't get to look at them for long. The pure force from her buck sent the extra large creature into the air a short distance, carrying him straight to the hole that had been created. He tumbled down into it and disappeared from sight.

The only sound that could be heard for the next minute was of battles that weren't theirs.

Rarity trotted forward to meet her companion. The cowpony had fallen to her rump in exhaustion, and the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor were two shaky front legs. She was panting and noticeably hatless. The unicorn was led to believe that her friend needed some sort of medical attention, but things somehow turned a little brighter when she was looked at with emerald eyes and a weakened, but withstanding grin.

"Hope Chuckles there found that funny enough."

Rarity shared a small grin, but her heart wasn't there. Even setting aside her need for absolute cleanliness, the pony couldn't quite make it past Applejack's battered appearance. "Applejack, are you all right?"

If Applejack still had her hat, it would have hidden the uneasy look that she gave the ground in front of her. No, not uneasy. Scared was more like it. Applejack didn't like showing fear. It made her miss her hat even more. "What've we gotten into?"

She didn't get a very swift response.

"I was surrounded by these things fer weeks," she went on, "'n I never would'a pegged them for bein' as strong as they are. I took on a couple with Twilight, but I guess that wasn't the same. It took more 'n I had, not to mention magic I never knew you had, just to beat down one guy. Yer tellin' me there's an Equestria full of 'em?"

Applejack was caught off guard when there was a slight pound next to her. The next thing she knew, there was a white unicorn nuzzling her softly on the cheek. Rarity had taken a seat right beside her. "If it helps at all, I didn't know I had it in me either. An inevitable effect, I suppose, of being friends with Twilight for so long. With that said, I could never have defeated that brute without you."

The farm pony grinned. The affectionate nuzzle, she assumed, was for both thanks and good health. "Shucks. Reckon we didn't do so bad together. Just hope we can keep it up."

She turned her head away, prematurely breaking Rarity's gesture. Her hat was laying on the ground, surprisingly not all that far away. It was upside down, and she could see a small mound of dirt inside of it already. Just beyond that was a hut totally ignited. A werebear had apparently pushed over a brazier, setting the nearby home on fire. There were panicked screams as a small family of zebras shot out of the building and hopefully to a safer place. She sighed as she realized that the ponies just weren't quick enough to save them.

"'Cuz we ain't done yet."


	17. Never Play Dead, Part 2

"Well, that... didn't work so well."

That statement was laced with sputtering and hacking.

No one was closer to that explosion of smoke just a few moments ago than Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. It was, after all, practically aimed straight at them. Pinkie had tried head butting the rocket from underneath, which would in theory change its trajectory into the werebear's own forest somewhere. The theory was disproven the moment her noggin actually connected with the metal bullet, resulting in nothing but a _clank _and a temporary headache. Twilight had tried a last-ditch effort to use her magic to send it flying in a different direction—any other direction—but that had gone just about as well. That rocket-propelled smoke grenade was determined to reach its target, and it had. Thick smoke poured everywhere, even out across the town. Her fight hadn't been going on long, and she already felt like she'd let down the citizens of Zebrica and the rest of her friends.

Leader was a frightening character to stare down. He never spoke anything normally, preferring rather to shout it as loud as he could. Battle cries, laughter, anger at the most trivial of things... If he didn't bark them, he must have thought he was doing it wrong. Unlike his teammates, at least, Leader was fairly easy to track even in pseudo-fog of war. His jetpack, which he had yet to shut off, gave away his position constantly. It was worrisome that such a thing didn't concern him.

"What should we do, Twilight?" pleaded Pinkie, trying to cover her mouth with a hoof.

Despite the circumstances, reasonable logic fell into place. It was simple, really. "We need to start by getting him back down to earth."

"On it!"

"I think if we—Wait, what? Pinkie!"

The smoke was as thick as ever, but the series of events that took place wasn't hard to follow. Pinkie took a flying leap into the air. Twilight was curious of just how she had done that, as up until that point, the pink mare had still been nursing her hind leg. As it was, she apparently made contact with Leader, assumed by the howl of rage he gave. It sounded as though she repeatedly stomped on the jetpack as many times as she was able to. Sadly, that wasn't many. Before long, she began screaming in fear as her voice got ever nearer to Twilight—she had gotten thrown by the werebear.

With quick reflexes, the unicorn used her magic to envelop Pinkie's unseen body. Her velocity slowed drastically until Twilight was able to set her gently back on the ground. She was a tad on the heavy side, maybe, but Twilight had carried stacks of books that had weighed more than that. And Rainbow Dash had told her that she didn't get enough exercise working in the library.

It was startling when the ground all around them quaked. She then realized that the jetpack had quieted considerably. Leader must have fallen out of the sky. It couldn't have been Pinkie's doing, however. The werebear would have been shouting profanities by now if it was. No, he had landed to get more personal.

"Don't fight for this city, _ponies._ Your kind will have enough trouble of their own soon enough."

Twilight had never been this scared in her life. She couldn't see anything, but her enemy could. She had no idea how to even hurt him; he could tear her apart with his teeth. Her magic was useless to her. She took a single step away from where that voice had come from, praying that staying away from it would somehow keep her safe. "Just... tell me one thing!" It was odd, making demands in a situation like this one. Twilight's tone was blended with fear, anger, and just a touch of understanding as she continued. "I understand that werebears are proud of their strength. But why all this anger? What is it you gain by killing everything in sight?"

It seemed that to compensate for Twilight's step back, Leader took two forward. His voice bubbled with the only emotion he seemed to have. "You have your precious princess to thank for the rising of the werebears."

To no one's surprise, the princess's own pupil took personal offense by that. Pinkie, still sitting where Twilight had put her, knew better than to interrupt. "What's that supposed to mean?" the former one growled.

"Perhaps a history lesson, _ponies,_" Leader began. "Long ago, more than a thousand years, werebears lived in a place known as Bearisville. Ponies—all creatures—stayed far away from it. Though they were inferior, we didn't_ dislike_ any of them that didn't intrude on us. Then the royalty stepped down, replaced by your... _Celestia._"

Both ponies found themselves caught up in the tale by now. It was... odd, thinking back to a day that werebears were relatively peaceful. Or for that matter, thinking back to a day before Princess Celestia even had that title.

"Celestia destroyed Bearisville. Werebears were forced into the Everfree forest, where creatures of even less power resided. I had never been so insulted as I was that day."

"Now I know that's a lie!" accused Twilight. "If you were as nice as you say you were, Princess Celestia would never have driven you out like that!"

For a single terrifying moment, she thought she felt Leader's warm breath as he panted in frustration. Evidently, it was just her overactive mind playing tricks on her, as he was no closer than he had been before. "She destroyed Bearisville," he repeated as calmly as he was able. "A war was nearly issued by myself against the entirety of ponykind. However, I waited. I waited every day for a thousand years for one of your kind to intrude on us, as we had never done to you. This war is your own doing, _ponies._"

He couldn't be telling the truth. In all fairness, sure, Twilight was never told much about _that_ far into Celestia's past. But even if she was three days into the job, the princess was surely smart enough to realize trampling a town without reason was going to have some consequences. No, he was lying. That's what werebears do, right?

"Consider this as you die tonight," Leader went on. If it was possible, his voice became even more threatening. "Your precious _Ponyville_ stands on the land that Bearisville did a millennium ago. That is why Ponyville will be the werebear's next target. I would like my home back. You insects deserve no such ground!"

A light clicked on. Sometime so long ago—or at least it felt that way—Applejack had said that they were planning on kidnapping ponies from Ponyville. Was that the reason why? Did it have something to do with the werebears having the land first? Twilight would have loved to ponder that for awhile and maybe connect more pieces, but something caught her attention. It happened to weigh a couple tons and was charging straight at her.

Even if she wasn't scared stiff, Twilight wasn't sure how she was supposed to dodge it. She could see nothing around her. It was perhaps odd that she had more courage while facing down three werebears at once than she did right now. She thought it was justified by this particular one being so much larger, and the fact that she _couldn't see anything_ still wasn't helping.

The unicorn heard her name being screamed by Pinkie. That, however, didn't soften the blow. The charging assault connected, leaving her to tumble across the ground a ways. The attack had hit her dead-on, causing a rather painful headache. Afterwards, she thought she heard Leader do... something. Either laugh, or yell at another werebear somewhere, or something. She was too focused on getting back to her hooves to care much. Instead, her attention was quickly grabbed by other voices coming from the opposite direction of the smoke cloud. Familiar voices.

"Twilight! Pinkie!" There was an accent on those two words. The cowpony cavalry had arrived. "You in there?!"

"Yeah—" the party pony started, but got interrupted by inhaling a mouth full of smoke.

"What are you doin', Rarity?" Applejack could be heard scowling. "Whoosh everything away again!"

"I. Am. _Trying,_" she muttered back.

By this time, Twilight had gotten back up and was working her way over to Pinkie Pie. Evidently, her second guess about Leader was correct. He was still nearby, but booming orders to either a werebear over in that direction, or simply everywhere across the village. He was certainly being loud enough to cover it. This time, that happened to work in the ponies' favor, as he hadn't yet realized backup had arrived.

Twilight wasn't quite sure what those two had been talking about. That question answered itself when an overpowering blast of wind knocked her once again to the ground. If she had known it was coming, she would have put up a better resistance to it. Regardless, she paid little mind to it. After a brief flashback to the tornado she'd had the not-pleasure of riding in, she quickly rose up to find the source of the magical outburst.

Rarity was the first thing she saw in the newly-cleared area. The other unicorn was panting, obviously exhausted from doing whatever she had just done. Applejack was beside her. She looked tired as well, but likely for different reasons. So it wasn't the most reassuring backup that she could have asked for. They were better than nothing.

"Wow, Rarity, that was incredible!" chirped an optimistic Pinkie Pie, her mane having been thrown in all directions by the wind attack.

"How did you do that...?" Twilight wondered in awe.

"Honestly... I'm not sure." Rarity brushed a hoof through her mane, attempting to regain some of her composure that had been lost throughout the night. "Can we just say 'friendship' and leave it at that for now?"

Leader agreed. It was only natural he had felt a large torrent of wind up his backside. His reaction to turning around and seeing a field completely clear of haze was, at best, predictable. It started with a frown and barred teeth, then went into a low almost humming sound. It took less than a second for that to change into an explosion of a roar. Most villains, Twilight always assumed, would find something like this worth scoffing, or maybe even laughing at. Leader acted as though they had just burned his entire forest down. "**Parasites!**"

Immediately, he reinitiated his jetpack. It was much like it was back at the werebear headquarters. It started up slowly, gradually increasing in velocity and noise. Leader occupied this time by continuing to hurl insults at his enemies, while the ponies took the opportunity to regroup.

Before long, they were back at what seemed like square one. Leader was a few meters into the air, higher than any of the ponies could do much with. He wasted no time rearming his rocket launcher, staring down the scope once again at Twilight. There was a difference, though, between this time and the past couple. Twilight had a plan. It would probably only work this once, granted, but that was no reason not to use it anyway.

With a self-satisfied laugh, Leader squeezed the trigger of the mechanism. As expected, a rocket-propelled smoke grenade flew at the ground with impressive acceleration. It was almost faster than Twilight was ready for. Almost.

Tapping into the depths of her magical knowledge, the violet unicorn prepared her counterattack. With a surge of magic that let loose a few sparks from her horn, a circular gateway suddenly appeared in front of her, directly in the rocket's line of fire. It wasn't alone, as a second one appeared right next to it. Rather simply, one of the openings was colored white, while the other was completely black. They were only large enough to make sure the rocket would fit into them.

And it did. The launcher's bullet flew straight into the first portal, only to be immediately deployed out of the second one. The velocity of it was unchanged, but the direction was. Leader had only a moment to realize his own rocket was heading straight for him, and another to give a pre-empted howl of anger.

The pair of portals faded from existence just in time for Twilight to watch the rocket explode. Unfortunately, smoke still poured everywhere, but Rarity had shown her there was a way to deal with that. With a second use of her magic, the librarian cast a gust of wind much like Rarity's. It was perhaps a more controlled wind, and Twilight dared to say it was easier for her than it was her friend. With yet another hindering cloud of smoke blown away, she could survey the damage.

Twilight wasn't sure what she was expecting to come out of that maneuver. It certainly wasn't likely to stop the gigantic werebear. She was right about that. Maybe there was a psychological way she could approach it, but she realistically didn't have the time to figure that part out. The truth of the matter was, he hadn't even moved from the spot he had been in. The jetpack seemed unfazed, and if she hadn't known any better, the explosion of smoke and wind seemed to calm Leader down. He floated there with no distinct emotion across his muzzle.

Of course, his temporary silence was just another stage of his anger.

"I think she stole your shtick, Rarity," Applejack quietly announced. Twilight wasn't looking in that direction, so she couldn't gauge Rarity's expression.

It was most unexpected. Leader didn't cry, shout, or laugh. He explained. "Do you know the power of the reverstone, _ponies?_"

The result of that was much more expected. If Pinkie Pie hadn't been paying attention before, she sure was now. She dashed forward a few steps, her injured leg all but forgotten. At some point, her mane and tail had recovered from Rarity's wind blast, too. Twilight chocked that up to Pinkie physics. "The reverstone?!" the pink pony exclaimed.

"Your goal to send one pony through time is hardly a fraction of what the reverstone is capable of." Still, he hovered in his spot. His voice had no problems carrying over the whirring sound of his choice of vehicle. "The werebears did fight that war on ponykind. We challenged your Celestia. And we destroyed her!"

"Yer losin' me here, partner," interrupted Applejack. "I'm pretty sure if the princess got taken down, somepony might remember it happening."

"Would they?" he shot back, traces of anger returning to his voice. "We defeated her and claimed your land as our own. Then she found the reverstone, she stole it, and she used it. She sent the _entire world_ back in time, before the war had started. She would know the tactics of the werebears. We had no choice but to hold our assault."

Twilight's inner self took off like a race horse. "_How... How could that be true?_" she asked herself. The scariest part of the entire thing was... it made too much sense. The princess of the sun would never lie about something like this, but Twilight knew her better than anyone else, and she was guilty of keeping many, many secrets. The only other creature alive besides Celestia and the werebears that go that far back would be Princess Luna. What was Luna doing when Celestia first took the throne? How old was she even at that time? Werebears are supposed to be known for lying. There must be _some_ kind of fallacy in his story. "_Think, Twilight..._"

She had no opportunity. Apparently Leader was leading up to his closing statements. "We are now stronger than ever before. We will crush Celestia, and she will have no reverstone to run to. This will not happen before we trample over _Ponyville._"

It certainly wasn't how the party of four was expecting the battle to end, but it seemed to be going that way anyway. Leader quite plainly ignored them in favor of shifting his direction northwestward. He wasn't possibly going to do that, was he? Twilight didn't believe it at first, but when the flying werebear began moving forward, it seemed to be completely true.

He was going to fly his way to Ponyville.

"Don't even _think_ about it!"

The voice came from that direction over there. By the time it had finished its demand, however, it was right in front of the four of them.

A blue-colored pegasus zipped across the sky. Naturally, she was testing the limits of her speed, though it was still possible to see her body reflect the light of the torches below. At the last possible moment, she tucked her wings in and held her hind leg forward for a high-speed flying kick.

Unlike Rainbow Dash's last attempt at Leader, this attack connected. It nailed him straight in the muzzle, earning her a very annoyed snarl in return. Expanding her wings once she had proven her point, she lowered her speed enough to make a safe landing on the ground. She still skidded across the dirt a short ways, but the wide smirk that was on her face said that she was probably expecting that.

"Don't know where he thinks he's running to, but it's not going to happen that easily," Dash declared to her nearby teammates.

Twilight let herself explain. "He wants to make it to Ponyville. He's determined to attack there before anything else."

The werebear ruler brushed aside the intrusion in favor of continuing forward. The local cowpony took notice of that. "Pinkie, can I get my rope?"

Up until then, the long string of rope found back in the desert had nearly been forgotten. Apparently, not by its owner. Pinkie shuffled through her saddlebag, that particular item having been buried over the past couple of days. One earth pony handed it off to the other.

Applejack instantly began wielding it with no less skill than her friends had come to expect. She'd even been weeks out of practice, too. Twirling it around and around to gain some momentum, she made for her own attempt at Leader. She launched the lasso through the dry, nighttime air where it wrapped itself around Leader's hind leg. At first, she was dragged forward several yards; finally, she latched herself onto a convenient rock, where she was able to resist Leader's pull.

The werebear growled, just now noticing there was something on his leg. As he tried shaking it off, Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash expectantly. "You want me to 'og-tie 'im, too?" she questioned with the rope in her mouth.

"Oh, right!"

An opening was just that: an opening. Rainbow took off for the sky, placing herself within reach of the hovering monster. She was well aware this wasn't a normal werebear, but she was willing to bet his weaknesses were more or less the same. It was a predicament that the harness attached to the jetpack covered most of his belly, but there was still just enough of it exposed to make it worth trying.

The flier quickly turned around in the air, using Applejack's own bucking position to let her hind legs go. They sank deeper into his body than if she'd tried kicking anywhere else, she knew that...but it wasn't the perfect spot to strike. Leader wheezed, but Rainbow didn't delude herself into thinking it had done much. She just didn't get to do much about it.

Leader was beginning to get upset. Without hesitation, he reached forward and raked a claw straight down the left side of Rainbow Dash's face. In a second swift motion, he set his other paw on her side, then sent her crashing down with a forceful push. He wasted no time after that leaning down to slice the rope around his ankle, freeing himself from the farmer's hold. He increased his vertical distance from the ground, then leaned forward and tapped a button on the harness. The jetpack itself gave a loud roar. With a burning blast of wind, Leader was bolting through the sky faster than they had ever seen him before.

At the moment, none of that was really of their concern.

The rope was gracefully falling through the sky. Graceful, at least, relative to Rainbow. She didn't recover from his first slash in time, making it impossible to recover from her unwanted descent. When she hit the ground, side first, a small cloud of dust and dirt was spread out in all directions.

"Dashie!" Pinkie cried.

All four of them galloped forward to assess the damage. Including a certain orange-colored pony, Twilight took notice of. She said nothing for now, though.

"Okay!" announced a sixth voice. It had come from the same direction Rainbow originally had, but this one was ground-based. Glancing over, Twilight spotted a yellow-coated pegasus rushing towards them. Scared, maybe, but her expression told Twilight she knew being scared needed to wait for later. "All of the animals are being taken care of by Zebana, and—oh, my! Rainbow Dash!"

Both Pinkie and Rarity helped the battered pegasus get to her hooves. It looked like she appreciated the support, even if she wasn't about to say that out loud. "I'm fine. Just... ow. I'm fine."

Judging by the three claw marks that were leaking blood, Twilight found that somewhat hard to believe. Rainbow, however, was never going to worry about that while under this situation, though. "Leader got away. He started taking off really fast in the direction of... well, Ponyville."

"We gotta find some way to end this..." mused Applejack.

Fluttershy timidly stepped over to Rainbow, who was standing on her own now. Gently, she nuzzled Rainbow's neck, no doubt tickling her chin with pink hair. This got a highly appreciative grin from the stunt flier. No one remarked on the scene, so Twilight decided not to, either. Besides, it was ended too abruptly anyway.

"Twilight."

And a seventh voice. Like all of her friends, the summoned unicorn turned her head in the direction the voice had come from. It was male. Weary, but still dominant.

"Muzzo..." said Twilight. This was perhaps the part of the night she was scared of the most. "Your village... We did this. I'm so sorry."

The lead zebra trotted forward several paces. "This is no fault of your own." She wanted to believe those words. The bleeding mouth, the emotionless voice, and the combusted building in his background made that an awfully hard thing to do. "We will finish what has been started here. You must stop Leader from destroying Equestria."

"Muzzo..." she repeated.

"This... was inevitable." Muzzo hung his head low. When he moved a few steps to his right, however, his head shifted far up into the starry sky. "We always knew werebears lived hardly a mile away from us. For generations, we expected them to attack. There were signs, but never a carried-out assault. This day was going to happen. Perhaps this is a positive thing. When this is over, this tribe will no longer need to fear an attack." He looked at his village. The body count didn't seem very high, but the destruction caused couldn't be overstated. Homes were destroyed. What used to be roads had craters in them, probably from werebear digging. There were fires without enough available zebras to put them out. Muzzo sighed. "One way, or the other."

Twilight Sparkle no longer aimed to give sympathy, but instead, a promise. "The princesses will make sure you receive assistance rebuilding your land. My friends and I will personally come back to help, too."

She was thankful to be followed up by a round of nods and a chorus of "Mm-hmm."

For the first time since this had started, Twilight caught Muzzo holding a grin. "If you are offering, perhaps I am in no position to deny you. But these are details that can be worked out another day. I must return to my tribe, and you must get going. Now go."

To ensure that he wasn't the cause of their delay, Muzzo galloped away. Twilight followed his direction with her eyes and caught sight of a werebear approaching two foals. Muzzo, she was sure, was going to have none of that.

Turning back to her team, she found them staring at her. Like soldiers awaiting a commander's order. Maybe not quite that formal, but Twilight could at least pretend. "Our only way back to Ponyville is by the train. We have to get back to the station and hope it's ready for departure already."

"That's going to take too long!" moaned Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy had stayed close by her side the entire time. "I'll go find him and slow him down!"

"You are _injured,_ darling," Rarity quickly interjected, "and you're not going anywhere."

Once Twilight nodded, RD frowned. "I'm sorry, Rainbow, but Rarity's right. And even if you weren't hurt, Leader is just too much for a single pony to take on. Honestly, I'm... not sure how we're going to even do it with all of us. We'll think of something, though."

"So, um..." Fluttershy kicked at the ground. It had been somewhere around two months since she had seen any of the friends surrounding her right now. Apparently, that was enough time for her to lose some of her confidence. "If we beat, um, Leader, that will stop the invasion of these werebears, right?"

"I sure hope so..." Applejack replied with a sigh. "If that doesn't slow 'em down, I don't know what kind of a chance we have."

"You guys are thinking of it the wrong way," Rainbow tossed in. "If we can stop this wannabe flying hack early, he'll never be able to get the word out that the invasion's even happening."

"The best cure is prevention," stated the librarian. "Muzzo's right. We can't spend any more time here."

The group took off for the train. At least, that was the plan. Being the four closest to the direction of the station, the team didn't immediately realize when two hadn't followed them. It wasn't Twilight's intention to lag behind, but if she could get Pinkie alone for a moment, she wasn't going to complain with it.

"You've been quiet. What's up, Pinkie?"

The mare gave a smile. It wasn't really a Pinkie grin, though. It was like when one received the _perfect_ birthday present. It wasn't as beaming as a Pinkie grin, but there was no question she was thrilled about the turn of events. "The reverstone, Twilight. It's out there."

In return, Twilight Sparkle gave her an understanding smirk. To her surprise, it was Pinkie that set a leg on her shoulder and told Twilight, "Let's go."

Both ponies darted off towards their friends, who had eventually realized they had been missing a couple.


End file.
